Building brand new stands may be too expensive, so how about building ones that have already been built? Two obsolete stands from Mainz may be used again as part of a new stadium 150km south.

As with many German names, Projektgesellschaft Sanierung Ludwigsparkstadion may sound too difficult to pronounce, so we’ll keep it short as PSL. This is the name of the company responsible for planning how to redevelop the severely outdated Ludwigsparkstadion. Established in 2013, the company has a challenging task of finding a decent solution for under €16 million.

This is why earlier this year a scheme was presented with the main grandstand (north side) of the old stadium retained. Three others would be new, built inside the old bowl, over the running track. With the projected budget (over €10 to be covered by the state and only a minority by local authorities) all the stands would have to be very modest and simple. As seen below:

But as it turned out recently, there is a way to make the project significantly cheaper without visible loss of quality. There are two obsolete stands available in Mainz, where FSV moved from the old Bruchwegstadion to Coface Arena. Two end stands, built in 1997, were then removed as they are no longer needed and the space left will be used for other facilities.

Building two stands like these from scratch might cost up to €12 million, but as these two are aging already and there’s no use for them in Mainz, they may be a lot cheaper. How much – that isn’t clear as PSL awaits for the municipality’s approval to apply for the stands and launch negotiations.

According to Saarbrueckener Zeitung, decision is due on Tuesday. Both cities are only 150km apart, so transporting the two stands, each consisting mostly of steel prefabs, shouldn’t pose a major challenge.