Venue News & Notes: World Cup Stadium Is €100 Million Over Budget

Johannesburg, South Africa, City Councilman Parks Tauk said this week that Soccer City Stadium ended up costing €100 million more than was initially budgeted, due to the rising price of building materials, according to SuperSport. The stadium, which will host the opening and closing matches of the June 11-July 11 World Cup, was handed over to the city on Wednesday by the Aveng construction group. With 97 days to kickoff, work on transport infrastructure around the stadium is scheduled for completion in mid March…

…Alamo Stadium’s future could be as a pro soccer, entertainment, and high school sports facility managed by Spurs Sports & Entertainment, the holding company that owns the San Antonio Spurs, Silver Stars, and Rampage. Preliminary plans discussed by SS&E and the San Antonio Independent School District last year called for a shared-use agreement that would allow SS&E to run the venerable, 70-year-old facility after teaming with the city and county to refurbish it, officials said this week. Although talks were put on hold after it was discovered that the cost to renovate the stadium and outfit it for a pro soccer team was more than $30 million, SS&E and the district haven’t ruled out renewing the discussion…

…The London 2012 Olympic Stadium has reached its full height with completion of the first of its 14 lighting towers. The erection of the 28m tower atop the inner ring of the cable-net roof takes the height of the stadium to 60m. Olympic Delivery Authority Chairman John Armitt says the lifting of the lighting towers “is a significant engineering and construction challenge … complicated by snow, wind, and rain”…

…The Baltimore Ravens and the Maryland Stadium Authority are in the final stages of putting together a second international soccer matchup at M&T Bank Stadium, on July 25, according to Terry Hasseltine, director of the Maryland Office of Sports Marketing. No other details — including which teams will participate — have been finalized, Hasseltine said. There is an outside chance the date could change, “but all discussions are leaning toward the 25th,” he said, adding that, because this is a World Cup year, European teams are reluctant to commit to an overseas trip before their regular season begins…

…Even without a trip to the Super Bowl, last year was one of the most dramatic ever for the Dallas Cowboys. Their new $1.15 billion stadium — only the third in franchise history — opened last summer, and headline-grabbing announcements stacked up as quickly as Tony Romo’s passing yards. In the stadium’s second year, changes are expected to slow to a crawl but not stop. “We are never opposed to change,” said Cowboys EVP Charlotte Anderson. “I don’t think we ever like to say that this is the way it is and it’s always going to be this way. … We are always looking for a new idea.”