Co-op Live to Bring World's Best Events to Manchester
Co-op Live, the new 23,500 capacity and £365m entertainment venue opening in Manchester, will be the biggest in the UK and attract the best global events and fans to the city. Backed by investors, Oak View Group, City Football Group and international superstar Harry Styles, the venue will announce its first acts in September and deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience once it opens its doors in 2023.
Designed to transform the live music experience for both artists and fans, Co-op Live will cement Manchester as one of the world’s largest live entertainment markets, bringing an additional 120 events and 1.3 million visitors annually into the city’s already thriving calendar. Boasting a flexible layout, the venue will host everything from superstar concerts to sports events and award shows, meeting the needs of local and global fans.
While Co-op Live will be the UK’s largest arena, it’s uniquely designed to make artists and fans experience performances feel like an intimate nightclub. The purpose-built music venue will have a ‘black box’ bowl design that brings fans closer to the stage than ever before and a low ceiling height to improve acoustics and create intimacy. The black box design also offers a unique black canvas for artists and its large standing space will be able to house up to 7,500 fans.
Sustainability is at the core of Co-op Live’s design and its future operations. The building will be fully powered by electricity, with a solar powered roof, rainwater harvesting, heat source technologies, and LED lighting. Construction materials are also locally sourced where possible and the venue is committed to zero waste to landfill and reduced packaging. When it opens, Co-op Live will be the most sustainable entertainment venue in Europe. The team behind the venue is currently working in partnership with Coldplay’s sustainability consultants, Hope Solutions, to ensure its on track to deliver its net zero carbon goals.
A range of world-leading brands, led by Co-op as naming rights partner, have joined the project as official partners and sponsors. These include official drinks supplier Diageo and official motor retailer Bristol Street Motors, as well as Britvic, Elavon, Unilever, and Schneider Electric. Co-op Live is pioneering gigs that give back with a commitment that over £1m will be donated to local and national good causes each year, and all partners have agreed to make annual donations.
The construction project, the single-largest in the city, is generating a significant boost to the regional economy and over the next 20 years will create an additional impact of £1.5bn in the local area. The construction phase is supporting thousands of jobs, including apprenticeships for local people, and the venue will support a further 1,000 roles once open.
San Francisco Giants Score with Oracle Cloud
The 2021 National League West Division Champion San Francisco Giants have added Oracle MICROS Simphony Cloud Point of Sale (POS) to their roster. The POS technology will make it easy for fans to order the park’s legendary food and beverage options at concession stands or from their mobile devices, giving them more time to enjoy the game. Behind the scenes, built-in restaurant business analytics and real-time data access will help Oracle Park improve inventory management to best serve guests while reducing food waste. The team has also moved its disaster recovery system for high-priority data, files, and video to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) from AWS.
“From the delicious Crazy Crab Sandwich to our signature Gilroy Garlic Fries, Oracle Park is well-known for its world-class food and beverage program,” said Bill Schlough, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, San Francisco Giants. “Oracle will help us make it faster and easier than ever for fans to enjoy our unique offerings while boosting our operational efficiency, better managing inventory, and reducing costs.”
Running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Simphony will provide the venue with the fast insights it needs to make informed decisions based on what is happening across inventory, pricing, and promotions. For example, if a popular promotion leads to an out-of-stock item, it will automatically be reflected on the park’s digital menu boards and mobile devices. Conversely, ballpark staff can also see if there is a surplus of a certain food and decide to run a new promotion to accelerate sales.
Additionally, to increase reliability and reduce costs, the Giants migrated their disaster recovery solution for important files and data, including their essential video environment, from AWS to OCI. The Giants’ 200 terabytes of video is a critical piece of the team’s winning formula and is used to measure player performance, to enhance training programs, and to evaluate players for scouting purposes. The Giants also use the video for in-park entertainment to ensure fans have the best possible experience at Oracle Park.
Preparing for a curveball
With the Oracle restaurant POS at its foundation, Oracle Park will be able to quickly adapt to any concession related situation that comes its way. For example, ballpark staff can easily integrate and alter loyalty, promotion, and concession services through Simphony to adapt how it engages with fans before, during, and after the game. In future seasons, Oracle Park will implement self-service kiosks and grab-and-go checkout locations to add more convenience and choice for park-goers.
“Maintaining agility in the face of tumultuous market conditions and ever-evolving fan expectations is essential for ballpark operators,” said Simon de Montfort Walker, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Food and Beverage. “Oracle’s transaction platform, MICROS Simphony Cloud, helps venues serve fans faster, arms staff with intuitive tech, and automates business operations. With it, Oracle Park can help ensure its fan experience and business performance continues to be one of Major League Baseball’s best.”
The San Francisco Giants and Oracle have enjoyed a strong partnership for more than 15 years. Oracle is the naming rights partner for the Giants’ home, Oracle Park, which has played host to special events during Oracle’s flagship conference, now known as Oracle CloudWorld, over the years.
Neutrik Deliver Trouble-Free Cabling to Tulane University Athletics Coverage
With an enrollment approaching 15,000 students, Tulane University offers a wide range of degree programs encompassing architecture, business, law, liberal arts, medicine, and more. The university also has an ambitious athletics program, and to provide better coverage for their athletic activities, the university recently invested in a centralized control room, known as the Tulane Athletics Central Control Facility. As part of the efforts to ensure trouble-free connectivity and provide optimum performance for the cameras and other equipment, much of the cabling between the control room and the sports venues now employs opticalCON® DRAGONFLY fiber optic connectivity from Neutrik.
Baton Rouge, LA-based Technical Services Group, Inc. (TSG), a design/build firm that provides industry-leading audio video systems integration, installation, and support, was contracted to design and deploy the new setup for the Tulane Athletics Central Control Facility. TSG’s Jason Martin (A/V – Broadcast Sales & Engineering), was actively involved with the project throughout its design and implementation. TSG relied on Joseph Electronics to help customize the fiber needed for the project. He discussed the challenges of the job.
“Technical Services Group was contracted to design and install a state-of-the-art central control facility to enable ESPN+ broadcasts using a combination of local freelance talent and student workers,” Martin reports. “The facility would need to support the university’s three major sports venues— Greer Field at Turchin Stadium (baseball), Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse (basketball/volleyball), and Yulman Stadium (football)—allowing for multiple simultaneous events to be produced from a single control room.”
The fact that control room operations would typically be managed by students and freelancers resulted in the need for simplicity of operation and a high degree of reliability. With many fiber optic environments, dirt can wreak havoc in terms of interconnectivity among equipment. While professionals may be accustomed to addressing such challenges, this would not be acceptable in a student environment, and this is precisely what led to the decision to deploy Neutrik’s opticalCON® DRAGONFLY fiber optic products, which would be used with Panasonic cameras.
Neutrik's DRAGONFLY series offers advanced lens technology for broadcast and AV applications—ensuring robust, reliable connectivity that is easier to maintain than common hybrid camera signal transmission systems. With technology based on fiber lenses and fusion splicing, DRAGONFLY achieves an extremely robust signal with minimal loss. Its fusion splice high-performance lens transmits UHD 4K and 8K signals with very low loss, as the signal surface of the XB2 lens is 322 times larger than physical contact surfaces. This further results in low insensitivity against dust and dirt.
Martin shared some perspective on why Neutrik’s DRAGONFLY is also such a good choice for system integrators, “For someone like myself, the benefits of DRAGONFLY include the same basic form factor as SMPTE connectors, the ability to handle more voltage, and the fact that the various connectors have a robust ‘feel’ that is also easier to unlock than many competing connectors.”
In addition to Neutrik’s DRAGONFLY system, the Tulane Athletics Central Control Facility also uses five Neutrik NA2-IO-DPRO units. The NA2-IO-DPRO is a 2IN, 2OUT breakout box designed to connect legacy audio equipment with a Dante® network. It features high-quality microphone preamps and 2 Dante ports for either redundant setup or daisy chaining. Audio parameters are adjusted either by Neutrik's DPRO controller or via control software. According to Martin, “They absolutely love these breakout boxes. They like the ability to control the DPRO units from their Yamaha mixer—and the DPRO form factor is, by far, the best.”
The Tulane Athletics Central Control Facility has been using Neutrik’s DRAGONFLY connectivity since August 2021 and Martin reports that the system has delivered everything and more than they had hoped for. “The system has been up and running since August and they have not had to clean a single cable assembly. Equally important, there have been zero problems with cameras not being able to connect. Simply put, Neutrik’s DRAGONFLY system has been terrific.”
Andrew Alvarez, Assistant Athletic Director, Video & Broadcasting for Tulane University, echoes Martin’s enthusiasm, “The dragonfly cables have been great. With our staff producing over 75 events each year for ESPN, in-venue board shows and to other partners, reliable fiber connectivity to our cameras is vital for a smooth workflow. We've never had to even clean a dragonfly cable yet, it just works.”
Pixellot Signs Landmark Multi-Year Partnership with German FAs
Pixellot, the world’s leading provider of AI-Automated™ sports video and analytics solutions, has announced it has signed an exclusive multi-year partnership with six German state football associations to provide cutting-edge video streaming, capture, data and analysis to revolutionise training and coaching at 5,000 football clubs.
Under the new collaboration with Pixellot, the State Football Associations of Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Sachsen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Thüringen will provide their member clubs with the innovative Pixellot Air integrated mobile solution for video capture, review, and analysis. Pixellot Air is a lightweight, portable device with a dual camera array and direct cloud uploading. It is straightforward to set up on any pitch and can capture twelve hours of play. Following any games, Pixellot delivers automatically produced video for coding, tagging, and annotating on a dedicated coaching platform. Starting today, coaches can enjoy the game video, automated highlights, in-depth analytics, and full video breakdowns including shots charts and heatmaps. Now clubs in these associations can enjoy the same technology used to gain a competitive advantage by some of the giants of world football, such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona. The latter took part in developing and testing the technology, in partnership with the Barca Innovation Hub.
The Football Associations of Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Sachsen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Thüringen have ensured their members can leverage cost effective Pixellot technology to stream high-quality match video. This is important, as Pixellot Air was specifically designed to serve the financial needs of the grassroots football market. Air’s remote and automated nature means it requires no camera operator, electricity or even an Internet connection.
Cost effective technology is key for the future of lower league and grassroots football clubs; as they lose valuable revenues from ticket sales due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions on crowds. Pixellot also offers football clubs an opportunity to develop transformative business models centered around live streaming games, generating much-needed revenue for clubs and valuable engagement with fans during this challenging time.
“This agreement gives thousands of German football clubs untapped ability to leverage innovation to coach their players and safeguard their futures in an uncertain world,” said Alon Weber, CEO of Pixellot. “We’re excited to provide our technology, to enhance coaching and stream games to engage with fans, but also the expertise of our skilled team at Pixellot. This is a transformative opportunity to advance grass roots football in Germany. The clubs in these regions can revolutionise coaching and talent development, but crucially, future proof to be commercially successful and continue to engage with the community and their fans – whatever comes in the future”.
"The Pixellot technology that we now have access to via our partnership will transform the way our clubs approach video analysis and talent development," says Björn Rädel, Director of Sport at Uwe Seeler Football Park. "This professional suite of tools, such as video tagging, shot charts and heatmaps, means we can take player development at our member clubs to the next level. We have the opportunity to develop our existing players, but also to identify and nurture the football stars of the future. This is an exciting and important partnership for football in our region”.
The Football Associations of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg are part of the Norddeutscher Fussball-Verband (Northern German Football Association), while Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen and Thüringen are part of the Nordostdeutscher Fussball-Verband (Northeastern German Football Association) – two of the six state football associations this sit within the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (German Football Association).
Verge Aero Drones Deliver Celebration for Cincinnati Bearcats
The Cincinnati Bearcats celebrated the end of an incredible winning season with an awesome 150-strong Verge Aero drone display, put on for the team by their sponsors and with fans invited to join the fun.
Taking place at Cincinnati’s 38,000-seater open-air Nippert Stadium, which is the Bearcats’ home field, Verge Aero’s military-grade-manufactured drones were perfectly positioned high above the crowd to spell out the team’s 13-0 winning season and display their logo. Backing up the show were more than 100 lighting fixtures and 384 rooftop fireworks, creating a spectacular celebration show.
Verge Aero’s Chris Lutts project managed the drones for the event, in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats events team, their sponsor’s event team, and lighting and fireworks specialists.
“We actually only had around seven days to get our drones programmed, transported and event-ready for this show,” says Lutts, “and this included responding to the client brief, discussions about messaging, collaborating with the lighting and pyrotechnics teams and making it all happen. But we love a challenge at Verge Aero – in fact we have a strong record of pulling off dynamic, large drone events in a short timeframe!”
Lutts and his team responded to the event’s requirements by showcasing Verge Aero’s fully integrated hardware and software systems, which are designed to create and deploy shows quickly. “We’re keen to realize shows with minimum hassle for our clients,” Lutts continues. “And I’m thankful that we designed our drone systems in this way, allowing us to create custom content and program in lighting quick time.”
With scores, statistics and branding at the core of the drone messaging requirements, Lutts’ team and the team sponsor generated dynamic cues and displays within Verge Aero’s Effects Engine. This allows them to create patterns and imagery that can be seen from practically any perspective, so that the UC football team and the crowd in the stadium could clearly see what the drones were displaying above them. The drones were programmed and operated on the night by Verge Aero’s Mason Hayes.
“Ending the drone display with the 150 drones choreographing into the Bearcats logo, alongside the fireworks and light display, was an incredible finale which resulted in the crowd going wild,” add Lutts. “Our team worked brilliantly with the other teams and their event sponsor to pull off a very special season-end send off. Local and state press picked up on the story, adding video footage of the event to their coverage the following day. It was a historical season for the Bearcats and I’m thrilled we helped them celebrate with a memorable display.”
It is the latest in a long line of big event projects from Verge Aero, which have recently included highly intricate drone shows for President Biden’s victory party, US Armed Forces Day and American Independence Day celebrations.
Vizrt Appoints Sam Leadsom as Commercial Director of Global Sports
Vizrt, the home of software-defined visual storytelling solutions, has announced the appointment of Sam Leadsom to its leadership team as Commercial Director of Global Sports as the company reinvigorates its sports offerings.
“The sports market continues to lead the way for transformation in storytelling, and Vizrt supports that with its impressive and innovative range of products. I am delighted to be joining Vizrt at this exciting time for our industry and am looking forward to helping the Vizrt Group bolster its position as the market leader in broadcast technology and continue to support our customers and partners’ aspirations to deliver highly creative sports content,” said Sam Leadsom, Commercial Director of Global Sports, Vizrt.
Sam has a vast background in sports production with IMG Media, Fox Sports and Sail GP where he has been responsible for large sports productions in many parts of the world; the Premier League, Sail GP, Bundesliga, US Masters, and Moto GP are a few examples.
He also spent several years in Asia where he focused on rebranding channels and producing a wide range of award-winning and sustainable content. While in Asia, Sam was also responsible for overseeing FOX Sports' production on multiple platforms in the region and was a member of the senior team that led the 2014 rebrand of the four sports channels.
Before his time in Asia, Sam spent over two decades working in the UK across various sports with IMG Media as Executive Producer, Head of Premier League Productions. Sam started the Premier League's 24/7 TV channel and oversaw the day-to-day running of all editorial output. In addition, Sam has worked with Sky, BBC, ITV, the European Tour, UEFA, and HBS as a producer and director for Athletics, Tennis, Football, Cricket, Snooker, and Darts.
“We are constantly innovating and want to continue to strengthen our market position in sports. We are doing this through several investments, with the appointment of Sam Leadsom being an initiative that I am particularly excited about. Sam has extensive experience in live sports production. He intuitively thinks like a sports storyteller and will be a vital component in our strategy to develop our sports output in close collaboration with our customers,” commented Daniel Nergard, President at Vizrt.
Vizrt is expected to expand and enhance its sports solutions throughout 2022, dubbed the ‘year of sports,’ with a solid product roadmap and clear go-to-market strategy with more announcements coming soon.
South African Horse Racing Captured by Multicam URSA Broadcast System
Blackmagic Design today announced that major horse racing meets at some of South Africa’s most prestigious venues are being broadcast live with a fleet of Blackmagic URSA Broadcast cameras.
Live production specialist EFX Productions has devised an IP based 4K broadcast solution that includes a fixed gallery infrastructure at the Fairview racecourse in Nelson Mandela Bay, and an outside broadcasting (OB) truck that alternates between Kenilworth and Durbanville racecourses in Cape Town.
That system allows for an onsite production team to capture and produce live race feeds that are then taken out to international sports channels and affiliates across the globe.
“With the broadcast systems at the racing venues aging, the brief was to establish a very modern OB workflow capable of delivering clear, precise pictures across big distances,” explains Brendan Marsay, executive head, technology, EFX Productions. “For acquisition, we opted to deploy 26 URSA Broadcast cameras across the two systems, as we were impressed by the units’ overall performance and versatility.”
The cameras are positioned in towers at regular intervals around the racetrack and paired with URSA Studio Viewfinders. The cameras are fitted with various Canon lenses, depending on the shots required at each section. Complementing the URSA Broadcast fleet is a series of ultra slow motion and PTZ cameras, ensuring comprehensive race coverage.
“The low power requirements and large voltage input acceptance of the URSA Broadcast make it a great candidate for powering from small solar rigs,” says Marsay. “This allows us to run the cameras continuously, without having to worry about provisioning expensive power sources or hybrid fiber cabling.”
Linking the solution is a network of IT grade fiber running around the venue perimeter. Multiple ATEM Talkback Converter 4Ks bridge each of the camera channels, which are fed back to the production desk, where the program is mixed and then uploaded to a cloud based platform for broadcast partners to access.
“Although EFX Productions has many years’ experience of live broadcasting, this was our first horse racing project, and we were able to use that to our advantage,” concludes Marsay. “Our brief was to bring a fresh perspective and deliver high quality, engaging, watchable racing television. Central to that solution was our decision to implement an acquisition package based on the URSA Broadcast. It ensured we matched the level and quality of on course coverage that’s needed to keep horse racing fans across the world glued to their screens.”
RFL Submits Planning Application for Manchester Facility
The Rugby Football League (RFL) has applied to Manchester City Council for planning permission to create a new skills, education and training facility in the Beswick area of the city.
Land off Grey Mare Lane is the proposed site for a unique facility to be shared between Rugby League’s elite athletes, community players, coaches and match officials, and young people and adults from the local area.
There are plans for a two-storey building alongside the existing grass pitch, plus a small pitch-facing stand attached to the main building which would serve as an education and training base for people to begin developing their ‘big match’ skills.
RFL project lead, Tony Sutton, explains: “For 125 years Rugby League has brought a huge range of social and economic benefits to communities in the north of England and beyond. It is a sport with a massive positive social impact – and now we want to make an impact in east Manchester.
“OuRLeague Life is an exciting concept which we hope will become a local focal point for adult education, training and skills, and a catalyst for driving up social mobility through sport. As well as offering a new facility for people in east Manchester, this will be a key educational facility for all the England Rugby League squads such as our Men’s, Wheelchair and Women’s teams.
“Our plans were warmly received by the vast majority of local residents who attended our recent consultation event at Beswick Library, and feedback has been positive from other stakeholders in the city such as those people involved in education and skills provision.
The RFL is working in partnership with architectural practice Holmes Miller on the Beswick project, which will be the first and primary OuRLeague Life facility. It will also support Manchester City Council’s ‘Green and Blue’ infrastructure strategy by creating well-designed and accessible outdoor space at the heart of the local community.
Ryan Holmes, Director at Holmes Miller adds: “The plans submitted detail a sports facility achieving something distinctly different than the status quo. By having elite athletes walking the halls and using the shared facilities alongside the aspiring local young people, the new centre will provide a lot more than simply being a place to train.
“Community and supporting development is core to the design focus of this building. Building on Manchester City Council’s Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy, we want visitors to interact with each other and the space in a way that promotes cohesion and a collective focus on the positive benefits of outdoors space and sports – as championed by the Rugby Football League.”
The OuRLeague Life facility will be open on weekdays for education and training and at the weekends for community sport. Events will be planned to ensure that there will be no clash with events at the Etihad Stadium or the Co-op Arena, or with any large events held across the Etihad Campus more widely.
The RFL is currently based at Salford Quays and will relocate its national HQ to the nearby Etihad Campus in 2022.
Populous to Design 65,000-Seat Stadium for Tigres UANL
Populous has announced its involvement in the project to create a new 65,000-seat stadium for Liga MX football club Tigres UANL.
Plans for the stadium, which is due to be delivered in 2025, were unveiled at a press conference on 14 January 2022, with the Governor of Nuevo León, Samuel García, in attendance alongside representatives of the club, Populous, Cemex, UANL, Sinergia Deportiva and Juego de Pelota.
Populous’ multi-use design features separate changing rooms for Tigres’ men’s and women’s teams and a retractable pitch that will allow a range of events to be hosted, from soccer and athletics to concerts and American football. The scheme also incorporates retail, hospitality, hotel rooms, offices, and classrooms for the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) to facilitate year-round usage and create a socially responsible and financially sustainable venue.
The new stadium will be located on a site close to Tigres’ current home, Estadio Universitario, meaning the club will not need to relocate during construction and will retain its position at the University with direct transport links to the downtown area. The project is expected to employ 60,000 people directly and indirectly and will be privately funded.
Christopher Lee, Managing Director – EMEA, Populous, said: “We are proud to be part of this exciting project to create a new home for Tigres UANL that will allow them to continue to flourish at the very highest level. Our design builds on the club’s rich history at Estadio Universitario to deliver a stadium that will come to hold a special place in the hearts of the fans and indeed the wider community. We look forward to continuing to work closely with UANL, Tigres UANL, Cemex and Juego de Pelota Inc. to deliver a new sporting landmark for Nuevo León and Mexico.”
César Esparza, Principal Partner of Juego de Pelota, said: “There is going to be another setting for concerts and sport. It is a stadium prepared to host all sports, this stadium will be the postcard of Nuevo León… It will not happen that the new stadium will be expensive, if it has that capacity it will allow us to create different price levels for events, becoming inclusive for all people.”
Mauricio Doehner, a member of Tigres’ parent company Sinergia Deportiva, said: “Today Tigres is internationally recognised and we are always striving for more. Of course we deserve a new stadium, it will be the headquarters in this new era. Today, Tigres is not only a benchmark in Mexican soccer, but also in the international one. The Estadio Universitario has given greatness to Club Tigres and all the fans, we will honour it forever.”
KSS Begins Collaboration with Developers of Baltic Sport Village
Baltic Sport Group, the co-operation partner of Riga Football Club (Riga FC SIA) and Baltic Sport Village – the sports infrastructure project in Piņķi - are collaborating with KSS, the leading European architecture and design practice of sports venues and facilities, whose leading architects and designers have worked on Anfield and the new AXA Training Centre for Liverpool Football Club, among others.
KSS believes that Latvia has the potential to become the leading Baltic state in providing elite football training centres and stadiums.
SIA Baltic Sport Group is developing what promises to be the largest and most modern private football sports base in the Baltics, with a construction cost expected to be €50m.
The base, named Baltic Sport Village, will be not only a training and game venue for both young and experienced Latvian athletes, but also a potential venue for holding competitions and training camps for foreign club members.
In the design and development of the infrastructure, Baltic Sport Group has engaged KSS, the leading European sports venue and facilities engineering and design company, which plans to complete construction of the stadium with a total of 61,000 seats by 2024, making it the fourth largest stadium in the Premier League.
KSS has also recently completed the new Leicester training centre project with a 180-acre masterplan and seven buildings, 14 full-size training grounds, a show area with a covered stand and a full-size covered area.
The KSS project in Piņķi is KSS' first facility in Eastern Europe, however, the company has completed several international projects, including in Le Havre, France, a stadium in Haifa, Israel, as well as projects in Slovenia, Belgium and Portugal.
"We are also pleased to have been involved in the design of Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan, Qatar, which will be the main venue of the 2022 FIFA World Cup next year," added Andy Simons, Director at KSS.
In developing the conceptual design for the Baltic Sport Village project, KSS had several sources of inspiration, including the Krasnodar Stadium Park in Russia.
According to KSS, Latvia could become the leading Baltic state in providing elite football training centres and stadiums.
“These venues provide Latvia with the infrastructure for further development of both domestic and foreign talents. The development of projects such as Baltic Sport Village is the main starting point to help Latvia achieve this goal," said Andy.
Furthermore, KSS is convinced that Latvia has the potential to compete with the English Premier League teams.
“Latvian clubs such as Riga FC continue to compete in the UEFA Champions League and European League qualifying phases every year. In this case, it is truly possible that, in the near future, we will see a Latvian football club competing with an English Premier League club," concluded Andy.