England has always been a popular football nation because of the fans and historic stadiums. Every stadium has its own aura and adds joy to the theatre of Football. This is a list of 10 interesting facts about London Stadium.
History
London Stadium was formerly known as Olympic Stadium. It was built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. It was also known as the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park but this name wasn’t much known across the world.
Construction
The construction of London Stadium started on 22 May 2008 and it was completed on 29 March 2011. The total construction cost was £486 million with further renovation in 2016 which cost around £323 million.
Home Stadium
After the Summer Olympics of 2012, this stadium was reconstructed to host numerous other events and to use as a multi-purpose stadium. Nowadays this stadium mostly serves as the home stadium of West Ham United.
Capacity
After the Olympics, this stadium went under renovations and also held matches intermittently. In 2016, its renovation was completed and now its capacity is 60,000 which makes it the 6th largest stadium in England.
Importance of Shape
This stadium has oval shape and thus can host events of many kinds of sports like Baseball and Cricket and also because of its relocatable seats.
Other Events
This stadium hosted several 2015 Rugby World Cup games and both 2017 IAAF World Championships of Athletics and ParaAthletics, it was the first time that both these events were hosted by the same stadium in the same year.
Iconic Roof
This stadium has iconic roof which covers the whole stadium, except the center, and thus it is the longest cantilevered roof in the world.
Not the first Olympic Stadium of London
Though it was called Olympic Stadium, it was not the first but second stadium particularly built for Olympics in London. The previous stadium was called White City Stadium, which opened in 1908 and was built in less than a year. It cost around £60,000.
Material used in roof
Many stadiums around the world use steel for their roof but it’s not the case with London Stadium as the roof is made of Fabric.
Flexible style
This stadium is flexible. The total capacity of this stadium during concerts is 80,000. The lower stand is permanent with 25,000 seats but the upper stand with 55,000 is temporary and can also be dismantled if needed. This idea was implemented with a legacy in mind that capacity will be reduced after the games.
