Sports facilities are set for a bloom, the Czech Republic still lags behind Europe

Prague - According to the CEO of the Union of Entrepreneurs in Construction, Miloslav Mašek, sports facilities in the Czech Republic are expected to flourish. The country is still lagging behind Western Europe in this regard. Last year, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office, approximately five billion crowns were invested in the construction of sports buildings, playgrounds, and other facilities for sports and recreation. Compared to 2004, this amount decreased by nearly three billion.
Last year's decline was primarily attributed by experts to the construction of the multifunctional arena Sazka Arena in Prague, which was completed in 2004 and cost at least eight billion crowns. No similar significant construction took place last year. "Sports facilities have a future. So far, we cannot compete with Europe, for example in terms of cycle paths and leisure areas that offer golf, horseback riding, inline skating, tennis, or swimming pools," said Mašek.
Funds will also be directed toward football stadiums. This is to be expected in light of the Stadiums 2010 project, under which first and second league stadiums will have to meet new requirements set by the European Football Union (UEFA). Thus, football players in first league stadiums will likely be running on heated pitches, and the stadiums will need to have artificial lighting and camera systems. Everything is being done for the greater safety and comfort of spectators and players.
In the coming years, according to Mašek, several billion crowns could be invested in sports facilities. "If a summer Olympics were to take place in the Czech Republic, it would trigger a fantastic boom in sports facilities, and investments would increase to several tens of billions of crowns," believes the CEO of the construction union.
Last year, companies with 20 or more employees built sports facilities in the country worth 2.7 billion crowns, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office. These are buildings for indoor sports, such as basketball, gymnastics, ice hockey, or covered swimming pools. A year earlier, buildings worth 5.2 billion crowns were constructed. There was also a decrease in work on amusement and recreational parks and facilities located in nature, such as ski slopes, equestrian centers, or boathouses. While in 2004 investments exceeded 1.5 billion crowns, last year it was approximately 500 million crowns.
On the other hand, investments in sports fields increased. Last year, construction companies delivered work worth more than 1.8 billion crowns, which is about 700 million more than the year before. More money was thus allocated to uncovered stadiums where football, tennis, or baseball is played, and more resources were also designated for golf and horse racing tracks.
Completed constructions this year include the covered sports complex in Ostrava Dubina, where the largest construction company on the market, Skanska CZ, worked. They delivered work worth 80 million crowns. They also renovated the swimming pool in Blansko for 97 million. Among their ongoing constructions are a covered swimming pool in Valašské Meziříčí and the reconstruction of a football stadium in České Budějovice.
A new downhill skiing area is also being constructed at Peklák in Česká Třebová, the sports hall in Frýdek-Místek is being upgraded, and work is ongoing on the cladding and air conditioning of the ice rink in Tábor. This work is worth approximately 65 million crowns and is being carried out by the company Hochtief VSB. They are also involved in the construction modifications of the football stadium in Budějovice.
The company Metrostav is working on an aquapark in Frýdek-Místek, is also constructing an ice rink in Ostrov in the Karlovy Vary region, and is renovating an ice rink in Ústí nad Labem. These are contracts worth several hundred million crowns. "There aren't many new sports constructions on the market; rather, existing capacities are being reconstructed," noted Metrostav spokesperson František Polák.
"Recently, the trend has been that newly built sports facilities, as well as those being renovated, are intended to serve visitors for active leisure and offer top-notch facilities for professionals. Therefore, significant demands are placed on changing room facilities. It is entirely logical that due to this, the financial demands of individual constructions are increasing; however, this is offset by their multifunctionality, which ultimately lowers the cost," stated the spokesperson for Syner, Ondřej Paclt.
Among this company's contracts is the construction of a championship 18-hole golf course including facilities in the municipality of Fojtka, located in the Czech-Polish-German border region, and a baseball field in Liberec. The eleven-time champions of the Czech Republic, Draci Brno, will also have a new baseball field, for which the new facility is being built by Stavoprogres Brno for approximately 68 million crowns.
"Sports and sports-recreational buildings are characterized among other things by unusual materials with extraordinary durability requirements. This mainly concerns technologies for water treatment, heating, and pumping, ice production, or special surfaces for sports facilities," noted Ondřej Šuch from Skanska.
Among the exceptional sports facilities in the country is the Sazka Arena, a multifunctional hall in Prague, which also received the prestigious Construction of the Year 2004 award. "The Tipsport Arena in Liberec is very interesting because it can accommodate a number of sports. Ladronka in Prague 6 is also nice," Mašek mentioned. However, according to him, the main city is still missing a large sports complex.

Sports facilities in millions of CZK from 2001 to 2005*

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Buildings for sports	1221	1604	3205	5222	2703
Fields, pools, and other sports and recreational buildings	2376	2032	2765	2690	2345
Total	3597	3636	5970	7912	5048

*source: Czech Statistical Office