2008 Oct 22 What Next for the Olympic Venues: Primary School Track Meets at the Bird’s Nest
As part of our ongoing series of blogs looking at the future of Beijing's Olympic venues (we took a look at what was going on over at the Water Cube last week) we now turn to the goings on over at the Bird's Nest.
After about a week spent recovering from the onslaught of tourists that packed the venue over the National Day holiday, the Bird’s Nest opened to the ticket-buying public again in mid-Oct. This time things were a little easier as the Olympic Subway line and the surrounding Olympic Park area had now become public space and no tickets or special passes were required to enter the area, security had also been relaxed. Tickets can now be bought at the gate or at the north gate of the Workers’ Stadium for RMB 50. As with tickets to the Water Cube there is a hot trade in scalped tickets and people are paying up to twice the official price of the tickets.
Last week students from a primary school in Beijing took part in a track meet at Bird’s Nest. A total of 20,000 students, teachers and supporters turned out for Beijing No. 2 Experimental Primary School’s 4th sports festival. This was the first public event to be held at the National Stadium after the Olympic period.
Looking further ahead, the managers of the venue - which has already shed 11,000 of its 91,000 seats (apparently they're off to London) and costs US$7 million annually to maintain - have indicated their willingness to host major performances from international stars, however, there’s still been no confirmation of who will have the honor of being the first act to perform at the landmark Stadium.
Despite earlier reports that Beijing's local football team, Beijing Guo’an, were going to move their home stadium from Fengtai to the Bird's Nest, recent upheavals in Chinese football (failing to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and Wuhan's decision to quit the China Super League) have taken it's toll on the (already dismal) popularity of domestic Chinese football and the plan no longer looks like such a sure thing. According to Li Jianyi, general manager of the National Stadium's operator, a consortium led by State-owned investment group CITIC, "we may abandon the plan to move the Beijing Guo'an Football Club into the Bird's Nest, due to the poor performance of Chinese football teams in the Olympic Games. Even in the peak of the season, Guo'an will not have priority use of the facility. Clubs will have access to the stadium based on ability and willingness to pay."
However, that does not mean that football will be banished from the stadium, plans are afoot to invite Real Madrid and Manchester United to play there later this year.
Also, expect the name of the National Stadium to change sometime soon as the Wall Street Journal reported back in August, “the manager of the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium is selling the 30-year rights to put a corporate name on the front of the Beijing Olympics' most prominent venue.” The sponsorship deal is likely to involve a global brand name and to raise at least US$100 million. In a similar deal, it looks like fans of Taiwanese pop stars or global brand name football teams won't have to endure the same terrible food on offer during the Olympics, as according to reports, spectators will be able to buy KFC in the Bird's Nest.
Looking further ahead, China Daily reports that "hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and shopping malls will also be erected in the second-phase construction surrounding the major building, which will involve an investment of 300 million yuan ($44 million), according to the developers. Such commercial facilities will account for about 35 percent of the total area on completion." As we mentioned last week, the National Art Museum of China is planning to build their new gallery, devoted to Chinese contemporary art, in the area of the stadium.
Links and Sources
The Bejinger: What Next for the Olympic Venues: Chaos at the Water Cube
China Daily: Olympic venues to be open for public sports
China.org.cn: Bird's Nest to open despite alterations
The Electric New Paper: Beijing to turn Bird's Nest into concert venue
SCMP: Venues to be spared 'white elephant' fate
China Daily: Olympics venues to leave lasting legacy
China Daily: Big future ahead for Bird's Nest
The Christian Science Monitor: As Olympic glow fades, Athens questions $15 billion cost
Yahoo: Beijing trumps Athens … and then some
Wikipedia: CITIC
Sina: 组图：北京奥林匹克公园正式免费对外开放
idoican.com.cn: 实验二小鸟巢开办校运会
Sohu: 组图：鸟巢里的小学生运动会
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