Which stadium has the best atmosphere

[tototoner]

Best atmospheres I have ever experienced at a football match was Celtic Park for an Old Firm game, Ajax v Feyenoord at the De Meer Stadium in east Amsterdam and Tottenham v Sevilla in the Wafer Cup QF about 5 years ago

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22110898

A good atmosphere at a sports stadium can make the difference for both the players on the pitch and the spectators in the stands. But how easy is it to engineer that sense of crowd magic?

The nickname the Theatre of Dreams for Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium was never intended to evoke a sleepy atmosphere. But the club has taken on an acoustic engineer to see how they can boost noise levels in the ground.

A good atmosphere in a stadium matters to the business people who run sport because it can attract even more ticket buyers.

The boost a lively crowd gives to the home team and the way it can intimidate the opposition can also help bring success, and therefore money, to a club.

So, how can you create a good atmosphere in a sports stadium?

"You have to achieve a connection between the spectator and the event," says Rod Sheard of the Populous architecture practice, which has designed many major sports stadiums and arenas across the globe.

"The closer that is, the better the atmosphere will be."

Sheard says that was the aim when designing the 80,000-seat London Olympic Stadium, which will be turned into West Ham's new home. "We fought hard to keep that a tight bowl, so that the vast majority of the crowd were close. Even the last row felt connected," he says.

Daily Telegraph football correspondent Henry Winter has visited stadiums across the world. "The best ones are like ravines, like the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Valencia in Spain and the Juventus Stadium in Turin. You have the feeling of being on top of the pitch," he says.

Creating an atmosphere is not only about generating as much noise as possible. It is also about making the fans feel they are part of an event and giving them an experience they could not get by watching it on television at home.

"It's almost impossible not to be engaged with what's happening on the pitch at the Millennium Stadium, especially when it's enclosed with the retractable roof on and the Welsh rugby fans singing," says Sheard, who worked on its design.

That is not a common enough phenomenon at Old Trafford, according to Ian Stirling, vice chairman of the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association.

"The sound inside Old Trafford is very localised," Stirling says. "I've had season tickets in quite a few places and there will be a lot of atmosphere in those areas, but you just won't hear it down at the other end."

Acoustics is about geometry, says David Keirle, chairman of KSS sports architects and designers. "Noise travels by line of sight. There are parts of Old Trafford where you can't see or hear what's going on in other parts," he says.

Improving the atmosphere in an existing stadium is obviously different to building it up from scratch and Keirle says one solution for Old Trafford could be to pump noise via microphones around the ground.

KSS designed a curved and tilted roof for Brighton and Hove Albion's new Amex Community Stadium, which Keirle says retains the noise and reflects it onto the field of play. "You get long reverberations and people respond," he says.

Keirle has been impressed by the atmosphere at the Centurylink Field stadium where the Seattle Seahawks American football team play, and inside Twickenham for England rugby matches.

Some new-builds have been more successful than others regarding atmosphere.

"Wembley is poor partly due to England's fans, who can be day trippers, and the rake is huge," Winter says, referring to the slope of its lower tier.

Shear, whose company designed it, says he has attended matches there with a great atmosphere.

"Inevitably when you do a stadium with more than one purpose you have to compromise.
It is a big stadium and seats 90,000. If you changed the rake on the first row by a few millimetres that would have an effect of several metres at the back."

But atmosphere is not all to do with design, says Kevin Miles, chief executive of the Football Supporters Federation, and a Newcastle United fan.

"Ticket prices have gone up 700 per cent since the formation of the Premier League. The age of the fans has therefore gone up, when the atmosphere was created by the younger working class fans. You have to price it accessibly."

Miles says the loss of standing sections, where most of the atmosphere was created, has also had a negative effect. He says designated singing areas - which can be a euphemism for the toleration of standing - have helped the atmosphere in stadiums, such as Manchester City's and Sunderland's.

"The location of the away fans - who can have a disproportionate effect on the atmosphere - is also important. They can spark a reaction from home fans, while a lot of clubs have moved them up into the corner out of the way."

When it comes to atmosphere, Winter believes clubs could learn a lot from Germany's Bundesliga, where standing sections exist and tickets can cost a fraction of their English equivalents.

"At Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich they have a strong fan culture and you don't get that opera-style attitude from the fans of, 'you entertain me'," he says.

Borussia Dortmund fans are known for their coordinated displays of murals at matches and many were impressed by the show they put on ahead of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final against Malaga.

Winter and Miles say the atmosphere at Galatasaray's derby matches in Istanbul takes some beating. The passion of the supporters is a major factor, according to Winter.

"Marseille is unbelievable because of the fans. Architecturally the Stade Velodrome shouldn't work, but it doesn't matter," he says.

Architects admit they can only provide part of the jigsaw puzzle that makes up atmosphere. "We can help the process with design, but we can't make it happen," Sheard says.

Winter has one final piece of advice for any team trying to improve the atmosphere in its stadium. "Playing good football is the best idea," he says.

Great Grounds

• 'La Bombonera', Buenos Aires: The Estadio Alberto J. Armando - home to Argentine side Boca Juniors - is renowned for its acoustics
• Turk Telekom Arena, Istanbul: Home to Galatasaray's fans, some of the noisiest in football, who give it intimidating atmosphere
• Millennium Stadium, Cardiff: Spine-tingling when Welsh rugby fans sing anthems such as Cwm Rhondda (Bread of Heaven)
• Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund: Home to Germany's Borussia Dortmund, it has a capacity of more than 80,000, with 25,000 standing places
• Celtic Park, Glasgow: Noise levels peak during European matches and derbies with Rangers
• Anfield, Liverpool: Famous for the Spion Kop leading the ground in a chorus of You'll Never Walk Alone

 

[Luka Van der Bale]

Probably going to receive negs for this but in my opinion Anfield isn't the unbeatable atmosphere many claim it to be. Yes you'll never walk alone is a fantastic anthem and always impresses, but for me that stretches their reputation somewhat. There are very often long spells of WHL-esque silence around Anfield.

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

Never been, but I reckon the Galatasaray vs Fenabache derby's top it, the atmosphere looks like something else. Other than that the Bundesliga in general looks fantastic, Dortmunds Westfalenstadion in perticular impresses.

 

[Lufti]

Never been, but I reckon the Galatasaray vs Fenabache derby's top it, the atmosphere looks like something else. Other than that the Bundesliga in general looks fantastic, Dortmunds Westfalenstadion in perticular impresses.

Watch from about 33:50, although this is Fenerbache's ground rather than Gala's. Still, wouldn't want to step into Turkey myself, their unjust hostility towards the English is ridiculous and carrying a knife is part of getting dressed in the morning. Their fans are complete nutters

 

[class of 62]

been to some grounds in my lifetime home & abroad but nowhere has yet to come close to standing on the jungle
at celtic park many years ago with my dad & brothers for an old firm game.. full sectarianism & hate in full flow.
you don't get atmospheres in this country anymore because the game has been sterilised of all emotion!.

you cant say boo without some Tristan type tutting or complaining.

best I've been to in the last 5 years is the rome derby.. football support & stadiums need & have a lot to like hate for!.. when the hate has gone bang goes the atmosphere.

 

[littlemandefoe]

WHL is the best

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Went to the Westfalenstadion to watch Dortmund as part of my 18th birthday.

Wow, never seen/heard anything like it since.

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

Watch from about 33:50, although this is Fenerbache's ground rather than Gala's. Still, wouldn't want to step into Turkey myself, their unjust hostility towards the English is ridiculous and carrying a knife is part of getting dressed in the morning. Their fans are complete nutters

I dunno, seem's you would be ok if you're wearing the teams colours. Although did make me laugh when Danny Dyer was sitting their with some big hairy Turk's arm around his shoulder lol.

 

[riggi]

Probably going to receive negs for this but in my opinion Anfield isn't the unbeatable atmosphere many claim it to be. Yes you'll never walk alone is a fantastic anthem and always impresses, but for me that stretches their reputation somewhat. There are very often long spells of WHL-esque silence around Anfield.

Why would you recieve negs for saying anfield aint that great, on a spurs forum? lol

 

[Lufti]

been to some grounds in my lifetime home & abroad but nowhere has yet to come close to standing on the jungle
at celtic park many years ago with my dad & brothers for an old firm game.. full sectarianism & hate in full flow.
you don't get atmospheres in this country anymore because the game has been sterilised of all emotion!.

you cant say boo without some Tristan type tutting or complaining.

best I've been to in the last 5 years is the rome derby.. football support & stadiums need & have a lot to like hate for!.. when the hate has gone bang goes the atmosphere.

I'm sorry but I completely disagree with you. Completely. It's a big misconception that to be a true supporter you must hate your rivals as much as you love your club. This is completely false. What do you think gets the players going more, hearing 'if you hate Arsenal stand up', or 'come on you Spurs'. As a fan your job is to cheer your own team louder than the opposition cheers theirs. I'm not saying they can't be banter between the sets of fans etc, but when there's such hatred that you feel like violence is going to erupt, or the focus changes from supporting your own team to simply hating the other, then something is wrong.

 

[Lufti]

Went to the Westfalenstadion to watch Dortmund as part of my 18th birthday.

Wow, never seen/heard anything like it since.

They are the best fans in Germany sadly. But we still give 'em a run for their money, we killed 'em in the first leg this year in terms of support! adi-adi-adi-adi-oh, BVB, hurensöhne!

 

[class of 62]

I'm sorry but I completely disagree with you. Completely. It's a big misconception that to be a true supporter you must hate your rivals as much as you love your club. This is completely false. What do you think gets the players going more, hearing 'if you hate Arsenal stand up', or 'come on you Spurs'. As a fan your job is to cheer your own team louder than the opposition cheers theirs. I'm not saying they can't be banter between the sets of fans etc, but when there's such hatred that you feel like violence is going to erupt, or the focus changes from supporting your own team to simply hating the other, then something is wrong.

something is wrong mate.. the atmosphere at the lane is shite... sorry maybe my explanation was very wrong by using hate but replace hate with passion !.. theres is none anymore!.

 

[UncleBuck]

Probably going to receive negs for this but in my opinion Anfield isn't the unbeatable atmosphere many claim it to be. Yes you'll never walk alone is a fantastic anthem and always impresses, but for me that stretches their reputation somewhat. There are very often long spells of WHL-esque silence around Anfield.

not at all dude, it was amazing when the kop was terracing, now, no different to any other epl ground....

 

[Lufti]

something is wrong mate.. the atmosphere at the lane is shite... sorry maybe my explanation was very wrong by using hate but replace hate with passion !.. theres is none anymore!.

I think it's because now that we're more successful and play good football we have fans who haven't been there through the tough times and so don't appreciate what we've got now. Either that or people are just scared that we're going to mess it all up again and so just whinge. Either way, the atmosphere is gone. There was a thread a while back suggesting we should bring back the Spurs drum in a bid to make the atmosphere better, and most were in objection. But most the people against it seemed to be of the argument that you wouldn't want to sit next to them, so why not do what they do Germany and reserve some space for them down by the advertising boards. Either that or as I suggested on a thread somewhere we need a part of the stadium to get the chants going and lead the rest of the ground.

 

[E17yid]

Millennium stadium.

 

[beats1]

The stadium with the best atmosphere for me without a doubt is WHL, the stadium is tiny yet holds 36,000 people, you can tell even when a song is sang that is really loud despite not many singing

Does that mean we have a great atmosphere, NO! but thats because our fans have been shite for long time, I cant remember us having a atmosphere like the seville match for a long time.

 

[kazzah9]

Pretty awesome

 

[$hoguN]

The stadium with the best atmosphere for me without a doubt is WHL, the stadium is tiny yet holds 36,000 people, you can tell even when a song is sang that is really loud despite not many singing

Does that mean we have a great atmosphere, NO! but thats because our fans have been shite for long time, I cant remember us having a atmosphere like the seville match for a long time.

The Arsenal and Chelsea games in the season we secured CL football

 

[llamafarmer]

The Arsenal and Chelsea games in the season we secured CL football

The Inter home game in the CL was a great atmosphere too.

They can fanny about with stadium design all they like, but the football fan demographic has changed, there's more and more people at games these days that don't want to sing most of the time. Higher ticket prices, better stadium facilities, all seater stadiums and the generally broader appeal of modern football have all played a part. Fucking acoustic engineering isn't going to change the culture back.

Standing sections would certainly help by grouping the noisiest fans together and putting off the 'opera fans' as the article calls them.

 

[absolute bobbins]

Standing sections would certainly help by grouping the noisiest fans together and putting off the 'opera fans' as the article calls them.

Levy and our architects are planning on doing this, along with a lot of the acoustical trickery which can have an effect of pulling 'opera fans' into the game