Messe Salzburg versus stadium project – Stadionwelt
Building a new stadium in Salzburg has been an issue for a long time. The Salzburg Exhibition Center has now also commented on the planned project. At a board meeting, the rights speak out against the idea.
As the current stadium of Austria Salzburg has to be downsized by 2024 due to new requirements, the club would like a new stadium. The entrepreneur and club sponsor Max Aicher has taken on this project and recently presented the plans for his major construction project at the Salzburg exhibition center. This, however, speaks out clearly against the construction of the new stadium.
This is how the new stadium of SV Austria Salzburg on the exhibition grounds should look. Image: Max Aicher Group / Austria Salzburg
After a meeting of the decision-makers of the Messezentrum Salzburg the following decision was reached: “After examining the present operational necessities, the supervisory board came to the unanimous decision not to support this project GmbH”, it says in a press release.
Opposite the Austrian news portal SALZBURG24 explains the managing director of Messe Salzburg, Alexander Kribus, that from their point of view the project “makes no sense” and moreover would not work in parallel with their operational business. Since the planned building plot is owned by the GmbH, future problems could arise here. In addition to the state and the Chamber of Commerce, the city of Salzburg is one of the three owners of the fair – and this too recently partially rejected the stadium project.
The Max-Aicher-Stadion will no longer meet the relevant requirements in the future. Image: Johann Hirschbichler
Messe Salzburg has been battling a mountain of debt for years. According to Kribus the debt should amount to around 30 million euros. Investments, in particular the construction of the Salzburgarena almost 20 years ago as well as the new construction of some halls and the Swiss franc loan are decisive for the minus.
After Max Aicher’s mega-idea was publicly presented, it should be examined by experts at the urging of politicians. If the upcoming expert examination by the spatial and building authorities, for which Vice Mayor Barbara Unterkofler and her team are responsible, turn out to be negative, THE Max Aicher Group WILL have to look for alternatives. Aicher Werk, in addition to the multi-purpose stadium, the construction of 428 apartments and underground garages with over 1,200 parking spaces. (Stadionwelt, December 21, 2021)