National Stadium Vasil Levski in Sofia, at least in some respect, will come closer to the brilliance of its Western EU counterparts. State company National Sport Base EAD, which manages the facility, is ready to pay up to 1.7 million levs for a new public information and advertising system there. The money will be used to purchase two LED videowalls measuring respectively 16 x 10 m and 20 x 6 m. The huge screens will broadcast live football matches, sporting events and rock concerts that take place in the stadium. Plans are to build a centre for management of the system, which will be located in the central hall of the of Vasil Levski’s monitoring administration. The price includes the purchase of information and network cables for LED screens and a new power switchboard. The project must be completed within 60 days after awarding the contract. So Vasil Levski will become the second stadium after the Bulgarian Stara Zagora’s Beroe which will get a big screen with an innovative LED display.
National Stadium expects to carry out also a partial repair for about 400,000 levs. It will start after Easter and is supposed to be carried out for the first matches of European club competitions. The programme has scheduled the matches for the beginning of July. A replacement of the grass coverage that will cost 300,000 levs will be performed. Another 100,000 levs will be paid for the installation of special security cameras to meet the requirements of the security department of the Interior Ministry. According to UEFA’s requirements benches of teams will have to be replaced. Now they are plastic and have a capacity for 16 people, while they must have at least 18 seats for players and coaches and have upholstered chairs.
„Since 2002 there no repair works have been done, the land under the grass contains much clay and can not absorb water. That is why the grass becomes too muddy in heavier rains,“ said the manager of the Vasil Levski Stadium Georgi Kuzev. The facility is licensed by UEFA to host matches, but new sanitary regulations will come into force in 2015. These are 1 toilet per 200 seats and one urinal per 125 people. VIP seats are also regulated as numbers – they have to be at least 500, of which at least 100 for the visiting team. It is obvious that Vasil Levski Stadium and its management will have a lot more to do in order to meet the requirements of the European football headquarters.
The BANKER
