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Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has announced a new £210m stadium construction project as he looks to grow his football empire.
Plans for a 53,000-capacity arena have been submitted by the Greek funder, who owns Premier League club Nottingham Forest as well as Olympiacos, Rio Ave FC and a number of other sporting franchises.
The new Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Greece will be based in Piraeus and look to include a “2,000-square-metre Media Centre with a 320-seat auditorium, alongside 1,000 square metres of dedicated media workspaces”.
There will also be a bioclimatic roof, while one side of the stadium will focus on a multi-level hospitality offering – much like the design seen, albeit with the corners involved, at the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium.
Marinakis, owner of Olympiacos FC, said: “The project, which will cost more than €250m, will be financed by Olympiacos and by me personally. It will become our theatre of dreams [an ode to Manchester United’s Old Trafford], and it will be open 365 days a year.
“It will be the largest and most modern football stadium in the country, a technological marvel of which Olympiacos, Piraeus, and all of Greece will be proud.”
Marinakis into the forest
Billionaire Marinakis is set to spearhead a £130m redevelopment of the City Ground, home to Premier League club Nottingham Forest.
It could see the ground grow from 30,000 to a monumental 52,500, with the current City Ground currently the 24th biggest ground in English football.
The new Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium will become, should the plans be followed through, the largest football stadium in Greece while there will be over 100 luxury hospitality suites within a stand that will be dominated by premium offerings for fans.
The cost of the product is deemed low considering the spiralling outflows that come with projects of a similar size.
