Stadion Miejski w Bielsku-Białej – stadium description

The concept of building a new stadium in Bielsko-Biała was born in late 2000s, after the first modern stadium in Poland was opened in Kielce. And it was the creators of Arena Kielc who won Bielsko-Biała’s design competition in 2008 with a variation of their first work. Capacity of 15,000 was established based on the city’s population and aspirations of Podbeskidzie, a rising Ekstraklasa contender hoping to be part of the league for good.

Construction was phased and began in 2012, with a 2.5-year deadline. First, the end terracing was demolished and construction of new north and south stands was launched. Then the east stand and finally, by late 2013, the old west grandstand was leveled, leaving a year for delivery.

However, the contractor was given half a year more and then met the new deadline of June 30, 2015. This is where the most absurd part comes: following handover majority of the stadium remained unopened for over a year because of the municipality’s negligence in supervision and acquiring necessary equipment. As of today, the stadium is still not officially inaugurated in full.

Expected to cost 80 million zloty initially, the stadium was contracted for 94.2 million and by early 2016 consumed over 130 million, only to be relieved by return of the VAT, reducing total bill to 110 million. But the bill is still open to changes.

The double-tiered stands were covered with seats in rainbow colours, a choice very controversial for ideological reasons upon announcement. However, after delivery, the mosaic cherishing municipal and club colours (of both BKS and Podbeskidzie) no longer raised similar concerns, offering a very interesting impression for spectators arriving at the stadium.

Due to its location on the plot of much smaller previous stadium built by BKS, the stadium offers little room for proper crowd circulation, let alone parking places. For this reason, even before opening 50% of the capacity, traffic and noise raised significant concerns of nearby residents.