Future
In 2005, NFF launched plans for a redevelopment of Ullevaal, including artificial turf, a retractable roof and redevelopment of the West Stand to increase total capacity to 30,500 spectators. The combination of the three would allow Ullevaal to become a multi-purpose venue and allow more matches to be played, grant the teams more practice time on their home pitch, make room for sponsor events, allow more concerts and potentially allow non-football sports, such as sprint skiing, to be held.
To make it easier to attract good international teams, the management of Ullevaal considered coordinating the laying of artificial turf with Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and Råsunda Fotbollstadion in Stockholm, the home of the Danish and Swedish national teams, respectively. Plans for artificial turf were rejected by both Lyn and Vålerenga, who both threatened to move elsewhere should the stadium install artificial turf. Commentators have stated that among older footballers there is opposition against artificial turf, but that long Norwegian winters cause pitches to be extremely bad during the early parts of the season. It has been argued that younger Norwegian players are used to artificial turf and that in the future they will need better pitches to play "finer" football. In 2010, seven of sixteen premiership stadiums used artificial turf; commentators have stated that if Ullevaal converted, it could be a pivoting point for other clubs to do the same.
Vålerenga has stated that they want to relocate and have conducted plans to build a new stadium at Valle Hovin, where the club currently have their administration and training facilities. Plans exist for stadiums for 22,000 spectators, which would be expandable to 32,000. Part of the rationale for their own stadium is that Vålerenga traditionally is the east side team, while Ullevaal is located in the heart of the west side. As an alternative, Vålerenga has considered moving back to Bislett, at least as a temporary solution.
NFF has launched plans for a new national football stadium. Inspired by the new Friends Arena to be built in Stockholm, a new venue would have a capacity for 52,000 spectators and was part of the joint Norwegian–Swedish bid for UEFA Euro 2016. To finance a new stadium, NFF would have to sell Ullevaal. NFF stated that expanding Ullevaal beyond 31,000 spectators would be excessively expensive and that the location poses limitations in transport infrastructure to handle so large crowds. In 2008, Ullevaal, including the 40,000 square meters (430,000 sq ft) of commercial area owned by NFF, was valued to about NOK 1 billion, of which the commercial area was valuated at NOK 750 million. In 2006, Ullevaal Stadion AS had NOK 522 million in debt.
Read more about this topic: Ullevaal Stadion
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