By Oliver Knack
Marathon session of the Berlin Sports Committee in the House of Representatives. The Senate spent almost four hours on Friday on the subject of building a new stadium for Hertha.
Among other things, there were: Sports Senator Iris Spranger, Hertha’s finance boss Ingo Schiller, the Olympiastadion GmbH, the State Monuments Office.
Schiller presented the Argentine stadium La Bombonera as a model for the new Hertha Arena.
The legendary stadium “La Bombonera” in Buenos Aires has no roof Photo: picture alliance
curious: The stadium in Buenos Aires has no roof. Which gave the impression at the meeting that this could also be the case with the new Hertha Arena.
Schiller clearly contradicted this: “Of course we have to have a roof over the stands, if only for weather reasons. We’re talking about a new Hertha stadium that’s completely covered, but not the pitch. But above all we want the grandstand on the north side, where most of the spectators will be, to be equipped with a lot of soundproofing.”
View of the Berlin Olympic Stadium Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentral
Schiller can make friends with the new location. And (for the time being) does not want to check any other locations like Tegel. “There has been enough talk about alternative locations in recent years. We would do well to focus on this location.”
Hertha BSC
The concern expressed in the sports committee that Hertha would not be able to meet the financial obligations in the event of a possible relegation was clearly stated by Schiller: “We have met our obligations for 130 years. We also want that in the future.”
Timo Rohwedder from Olympiastadion GmbH made it clear why he is against a new stadium: “If Hertha were to move out, we would be missing around 5.1 million euros. We are happy to have Hertha as the main tenant.”
