The Future Sporting Infrastructure Summit commences on Monday where a host of industry leaders, including the project manager of FC Barcelona’s new stadium, will gather at the Dusit Thani hotel in Dubai.
The summit will focus on driving sport and sport tourism growth through inspiring designs, effective delivery and innovative usage of infrastructure and will present numerous case studies from sporting entities in the UAE and across the globe.
Day one will include a presentation from William T Mannarelli, the project manager of Espai Barça, who will discuss the plans of the new Camp Nou at FC Barcelona.
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His talk, titled ‘International insight: Creating an unbeatable home ground advantage – welcome to the future Camp Nou’ will cover topics like, bringing the fans closer to the action through innovative seat design and positioning, increasing capacity to increase the noise and home ground advantage, and adding spectator value through the addition of new technology.
Hessa Al Kous from the Dubai Sports Council, Salah Tahlak from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and Barry Bremner of Zayed Sports City are all on the agenda for day one of the conference.
Sander van Stiphout, the director of Amsterdam ArenaA – the largest stadium in the Netherlands and the home of AFC Ajax – will talk about investing in venue technology before joining a panel alongside Kareem Nagy, the CEO of Al Ain Club Investment Company, Maqbul Dudhia of Dubai Sports City and Bremner to discuss "working with venue stakeholders to increase usage and venue awareness".
Day two of the summit will start with a presentation from Nick McElwee, the sales and marketing director of Yas Marina Circuit, about driving the fans through marketing and event experience.
The rest of the day will focus on the design and construction of "modern marvels".
Markus Pfisterer, the director of gmp Architekten, will present a case study on the design for the new Medinah stadium in Saudi Arabia.
A site visit to the Hamdan Sports Complex, one of the biggest multi-purpose facilities in the world, preceded the summit on Sunday.
The summit is a great opportunity for people who are interested in discovering new ideas and strategies to maximise the potential of their facilities; learning about new technologies that can improve the fan experience, reduce operating costs and access new revenue streams; driving sport tourism through leveraging existing and new facilities; and building a legacy through effective planning to safeguard infrastructure investment.
Featured Speakers
Salah Tahlak, Senior Vice President – Corporate Communications, Dubai Duty Free
William T. Mannarelli, Project Manager, Espai Barça
Kareem Nagy, CEO, Al Ain Club Investment Company
Nick McElwee, Sales & Marketing Director, Yas Marina Circuit
Justin Frankel, Project Manager, HOK Sport + Recreation + Entertainment
Knut Stockhusen, Partner, schlaich bergermann und partner
Hessa Al Kous, Sports Events Planning Manager, Dubai Sports Council
Sander van Stiphout, Director, Amsterdam ArenA International
Barry Bremner, General Manager, Zayed Sports City Stadium
Rupert Booth, Chief Economist, Faithful + Gould
Luke Jurcevic, Enterprise Architect, MyStadiumsApp
Ivar Krasinski, Design Director, L+B DESIGN GROUP l EDGE
Markus Pfisterer, Director, gmp Architekten
Maqbul Dudhia, General Manager Sports Business, Dubai Sports City
Sam Katiela, Managing & Creative Director, Mamemo Productions
Steven Wilbrenninck, Product Manager – Stadiums, BAM International