Venue News: Soccer City May Lose Its Name

South Africa’s Soccer City stadium can still be commercially successful even if it loses its famous name in a legal dispute, the man in charge of the iconic 2010 World Cup Final venue said this week. South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal has yet to rule on whether the continent’s biggest sports venue should revert to FNB Stadium — which it was called before a $500 million renovation for the World Cup. The FNB name limits the 94,700-capacity venue’s ability to attract new sponsors and make money, said Jacques Grobbelaar, chief executive of Stadium Management South Africa, the company that runs the Soweto stadium…

…Washington, DC, Councilman Jack Evans doesn’t much like what he sees at FedEx Field, and he’d like a new stadium, built where RFK stands, for the Redskins and to lure the World Cup and Olympics. “FedEx Field is fast becoming the worst stadium in professional football,” Evans (D-Ward 2) said of the NFL’s largest stadium, according to a WTOP report. He would like to see RFK replaced with a stadium that seats roughly 20,000 more fans and with a retractable roof. Cost: $2 billion-$3 billion. “You build a 110,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof, and you get the World Cup,” says Evans. “And the Olympics would also be something we could compete for”…

…Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring on a $27.9 million hockey and swimming facility that will be built next to the Kohl Center in Madison, WI. Earlier this month, the Wisconsin State Building Commission approved the project to build La Bahn Arena. The facility is expected to open in fall 2012. The tri-level complex will include an ice rink for men’s and women’s hockey practice and women’s games, seating about 2,400, as well as locker rooms and a connecting tunnel to the Kohl Center.