OWL Arena

OWL Arena
The Gerry Weber Stadion during the Handball World Cup 2007
Map
Former namesGerry Weber Stadion (1993–2020)
LocationHalle, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Coordinates52°03′47″N 8°20′56″E / 52.06306°N 8.34889°E / 52.06306; 8.34889
OperatorOWL Sport & Event Verwaltung GmbH
Capacity12,300 (tennis)
11,000 (handball)
SurfaceGrass court
Construction
Opened1993
Renovated1994 (Sattler Europe), 2005
Construction cost€ 35 million (1993)
€ 3.5 million (renovated 2005)
ArchitectSattler Europe[1]
Tenants
Halle Open (tennis) (1993–present)

OWL Arena, formerly Gerry Weber Stadion, is a multi-purpose stadium, located in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany. The capacity of the arena is 12,300 people and it opened in 1993.

In early 2020, a consortium of 13 sponsors became owner of the venue and its name was changed to OWL Arena.[2][3]

Facilities

Gerry Weber Stadium in 2009

The stadium has a retractable roof which can be closed in 88 seconds, which rules out the risk of tennis matches having to be suspended because of rain. It is one of the few grass court tennis venues around. The stadium is heated and also used for other sport events (handball, basketball, prisonball, volleyball and boxing), TV shows and concerts.

Halle Gerry-Weber-Stadion railway station is located 500m from the stadium on the Osnabrück to Bielefeld railway line.

Events

During a concert in 2012

The tennis arena hosts the Halle Open every year in June. On 2 April 2005, Irish vocal pop band Westlife held a concert for their The No 1's Tour supporting their album ...Allow Us to Be Frank.

In January 2007, several games of the Handball World Championship took place there; most of them were sold out with 11,000 spectators.

See also

References

  1. ^ Center Court, Halle, Westfalen, Germany roof: Sattler Europe
  2. ^ "Gerry Weber stadium to be renamed OWL Arena". SportBusiness. 15 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Gerry Weber Stadion wird zur OWL ARENA • Neues Sponsoring-Konzept mit bislang 13 Unternehmen aus der Region Ostwestfalen-Lippe • Auch neuer Firmenname ab sofort: OWL Sport & Event GmbH & Co. OHG" (in German). owl-arena.de. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to OWL Arena.