"Arena Kombetare" the new stadium in Tirane

[nikobellic]

I dont understand why some of u guys say even a 22k stadium wouldnt get filled up. You gotto loook at the future and expectations of the new project. We have a better team now and with a better stadium obviously wer gonna expect bigger crowds in the stadium. Tirana alone holds around 1m population and youre saying they wouldnt support the nt with a luxury stadium and a team that offers something comeon man lets be realistic here. Till now we dont fill qemal stafa because that stadium is total shit and out nt has always been shit and all they did was sell games. If things are going the way its going now we need bigger stadium then 22k trust me. 35k like albo said would be more then resonable. This new stadium is a joke, it even has 1 of the main tribunas as a wall for advertisements if im not mistaken. Comeon man they joke around with us. I cant believe some of you guys get satisfied with so little. And please dont reply and tell me at least they building a nice stadium for once cus first of all that stadium is owned by an outside company which is ridiculous wen u think about it, 2nd of all 1 of the main tribunas they left the top side empty for advertisements and 3rd of all the company who is building this stadium is doing it for its own interest rather then "supposedly" a gift for us.... Its 20 mother fuking 16 guys and wer a god dam european country and wer still the joke of europe cus of this corrupted "idk wat Other name to call it" government and we get satisfied with little shit.

[Aurora Bulkualis]

PD promised a stadium for decades and never delivered, they've actually destroyed anything sports related when they were in control and now they're trying to screw this one up just because they don't want anything "good" to happen under a PS government. They are easily the biggest cancer in Albania. Don't give a fck if Rama/Duka and their friends are corrupt. At least they are building projects and have something good to show for instead of destroying everything in sight. The way Albanians are complaining about this stadium I really think that they deserve to play in a broken down WWI stadium for another century. Ridiculous. Building stadiums is not easy, for Albania it's even harder. It cannot be done public money because there are bigger way more important priorities.

The capacity is more than fine. Even at 22k it would only get filled once a year and that's if we're lucky(play an enemy or a big team as Plako mentioned).

PD is a party full of morons, but that doesn't give Rama the right to just give away public land in the middle of the city that's worth tens of millions of euros to his personal friends without any discussion or transparency. No one is against building a stadium, but 30 million euros is peanuts, and it's absolutely nothing even for Albania, especially considering UEFA will give the country 10 million. Loro Borici already cost like 17 million euros ffs.

Rama is using "poverty" as an excuse for massive corruption and laundering, that could potentially be millions of euros lost for future projects including sports, stadiums, etc... The man has granted hundreds of millions of euros to his friends in forms of tenders and he hasn't even finished his first term. This stadium, whose cost could be easily paid for and amortized by the government, is nothing by comparison.

[Plako]

I dont understand why some of u guys say even a 22k stadium wouldnt get filled up. You gotto loook at the future and expectations of the new project. We have a better team now and with a better stadium obviously wer gonna expect bigger crowds in the stadium. Tirana alone holds around 1m population and youre saying they wouldnt support the nt with a luxury stadium and a team that offers something comeon man lets be realistic here. Till now we dont fill qemal stafa because that stadium is total shit and out nt has always been shit and all they did was sell games. If things are going the way its going now we need bigger stadium then 22k trust me. 35k like albo said would be more then resonable. This new stadium is a joke, it even has 1 of the main tribunas as a wall for advertisements if im not mistaken. Comeon man they joke around with us. I cant believe some of you guys get satisfied with so little. And please dont reply and tell me at least they building a nice stadium for once cus first of all that stadium is owned by an outside company which is ridiculous wen u think about it, 2nd of all 1 of the main tribunas they left the top side empty for advertisements and 3rd of all the company who is building this stadium is doing it for its own interest rather then "supposedly" a gift for us.... Its 20 mother fuking 16 guys and wer a god dam european country and wer still the joke of europe cus of this corrupted "idk wat Other name to call it" government and we get satisfied with little shit.

I think you are right that 22k may be way too small but also 35k is way too big. I think 25k would have been perfect, a stadium similar to the one Red Bull NY has. You can't just build a stadium for the NT. If local club teams won't be able to fill the 35k on a regular basis it'd be a waste of money.

You also have a good point that Qemal Stafa is utter crap and going there is not an enjoyable experience. Maybe a modern stadium will bring a lot more local fans for the Superliga games. Do the derby matches between Partizani and Tirana would sell out a 35k stadium i'd say built it but am not sure that will happen.

Anybody know if the stadium is expandable beyond 22k if they decide to expand 5-10 years from now?

[Rodon]

Well one have also to look things in perspective and for the future.

If I'm not mistaken stadium attendance has been increasing over the years.

[NYVirus]

PD promised a stadium for decades and never delivered, they've actually destroyed anything sports related when they were in control and now they're trying to screw this one up just because they don't want anything "good" to happen under a PS government. They are easily the biggest cancer in Albania. Don't give a fck if Rama/Duka and their friends are corrupt. At least they are building projects and have something good to show for instead of destroying everything in sight. The way Albanians are complaining about this stadium I really think that they deserve to play in a broken down WWI stadium for another century. Ridiculous. Building stadiums is not easy, for Albania it's even harder. It cannot be done public money because there are bigger way more important priorities.

The capacity is more than fine. Even at 22k it would only get filled once a year and that's if we're lucky(play an enemy or a big team as Plako mentioned).

PD is a party full of morons, but that doesn't give Rama the right to just give away public land in the middle of the city that's worth tens of millions of euros to his personal friends without any discussion or transparency. No one is against building a stadium, but 30 million euros is peanuts, and it's absolutely nothing even for Albania, especially considering UEFA will give the country 10 million. Loro Borici already cost like 17 million euros ffs.

Rama is using "poverty" as an excuse for massive corruption and laundering, that could potentially be millions of euros lost for future projects including sports, stadiums, etc... The man has granted hundreds of millions of euros to his friends in forms of tenders and he hasn't even finished his first term. This stadium, whose cost could be easily paid for and amortized by the government, is nothing by comparison.

Well said, this is my concern as well. Hard for Rama to justify the price paid by the government for building the stadium. The "we pay nothing" quote is completely disingenuous given the public lands in a very attractive spot given away for free (in perpetuity). Either there's corruption going on (which is 99% the case) or Rama and his buddies are the worst deal makers in history. I don't like either of those options.

The stadium itself looks fine by the way, taking no qualms about the project itself if we divorce it from the price paid.

[Plako]

Well said, this is my concern as well. Hard for Rama to justify the price paid by the government for building the stadium. The "we pay nothing" quote is completely disingenuous given the public lands in a very attractive spot given away for free (in perpetuity). Either there's corruption going on (which is 99% the case) or Rama and his buddies are the worst deal makers in history. I don't like either of those options.

The stadium itself looks fine by the way, taking no qualms about the project itself if we divorce it from the price paid.

What public land are you referring to? There is a piece of crap all concrete stadium there already and they will build on top of that. Stadium deals are notoriously shady even when in the U.S. This has turned into a political issue when it shouldn't. However, we've made progress since now people can protest and not be killed by the government for doing so.

[NYVirus]

Well said, this is my concern as well. Hard for Rama to justify the price paid by the government for building the stadium. The "we pay nothing" quote is completely disingenuous given the public lands in a very attractive spot given away for free (in perpetuity). Either there's corruption going on (which is 99% the case) or Rama and his buddies are the worst deal makers in history. I don't like either of those options.

The stadium itself looks fine by the way, taking no qualms about the project itself if we divorce it from the price paid.

What public land are you referring to? There is a piece of crap all concrete stadium there already and they will build on top of that. Stadium deals are notoriously shady even when in the U.S. This has turned into a political issue when it shouldn't. However, we've made progress since now people can protest and not be killed by the government for doing so.

My understanding is that there will be stores/restaurants/etc. built in the area with no rent payable to the government ever (not the typical 20-50 year deal). Assuming the stadium is built successfully, that's bound to be pretty valuable, no? And what is the cost of this stadium that the government is avoiding paying instead of making this kind of a deal? That's what I'm talking about.

[Plako]

Well said, this is my concern as well. Hard for Rama to justify the price paid by the government for building the stadium. The "we pay nothing" quote is completely disingenuous given the public lands in a very attractive spot given away for free (in perpetuity). Either there's corruption going on (which is 99% the case) or Rama and his buddies are the worst deal makers in history. I don't like either of those options.

The stadium itself looks fine by the way, taking no qualms about the project itself if we divorce it from the price paid.

What public land are you referring to? There is a piece of crap all concrete stadium there already and they will build on top of that. Stadium deals are notoriously shady even when in the U.S. This has turned into a political issue when it shouldn't. However, we've made progress since now people can protest and not be killed by the government for doing so.

My understanding is that there will be stores/restaurants/etc. built in the area with no rent payable to the government ever (not the typical 20-50 year deal). Assuming the stadium is built successfully, that's bound to be pretty valuable, no? And what is the cost of this stadium that the government is avoiding paying instead of making this kind of a deal? That's what I'm talking about.

I see your point but I'd imagine the bars and restaurants will be part of the stadium. Any modern stadium incorporates numerous forms of entertainment to be profitable. I'm not trying to justify what Rama's doing, but I don't see how a private builder will pour any money into a project without getting any benefit from it.

In the end if it weren't Rama's friends it'd have been Berisha's or Meta's. Does it really matter? I've been watching House of Cards so I've become a total cynic.

[Aurora Bulkualis]

Plako, the area/plaza in front of the stadium, will be given for free to a private company for eternity. That "tower" in the stadium too. They'll build bars, restaurants, offices there, but 0 of the profits will be going to FSHF/government.

This is ridiculous considering the price of the stadium is cost of Loro Borici renovations i + the 10 million UEFA is giving them. We're not building a 100 million euro stadium.

[Guest]

Plako, the area/plaza in front of the stadium, will be given for free to a private company for eternity. That "tower" in the stadium too. They'll build bars, restaurants, offices there, but 0 of the profits will be going to FSHF/government.

This is ridiculous considering the price of the stadium is cost of Loro Borici renovations i + the 10 million UEFA is giving them. We're not building a 100 million euro stadium.

Oh I see what you guys mean now. Yeah that's messed up. I also don't like the fact that this private company has not stake in local football as they don't own any Superliga teams so whoever plays in Qemal Stafa will be paying rent. No wonder Partizani is looking to build its own ground.