Action sports for Munich Olympic Park

Article posted by Coliseum, December 5^th, 2024

Image: Olympiapark Muenchen (LinkedIn)

City officials in Munich, Germany have drawn up plans to convert the disused ice sports center in the Olympic Park into one of the largest covered action sports facilities in Europe.

Süddeutsche Zeitung said that ice sports athletes have long since moved from the outdated sports facility to the recently opened SAP Garden.

SAP Garden is a 12,500-seat indoor arena in Olympiapark, Munich (Germany). The arena was completed in Summer 2024 and it opened its doors on September 27^th, 2024. It is the home rink of the ice hockey team EHC Red Bull München and home court to the basketball team FC Bayern München Basketball GmbH.

The 69,250-capacity Olympiapark in Munich, Germany, is an Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Located in the Oberwiesenfeld (airfield) neighborhood of Munich, the Park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social and religious events.

Until it is finally decided what will be built on the old site in the middle of the Olympic Park, BMX riders, skateboarders, street dancers and street basketball players are to move into the area as interim users.

Sports enthusiasts can practice around 15 sports on an area covering 4,000 square meters. The city expects around 200,000 visitors per year.

The complex’s training hall is already being converted for action sports. The city council has made €1.6 million available for the upgrades.

The contract for interim use runs until the end of 2030 with an option to extend if the city does not approve the proposed new plan for the area in time.

The training hall is scheduled to start operations in early summer 2025, and the rest is to be converted by the end of next year. This means that two action sports centers will open in Munich in 2025.

In Pasing, the city is already pushing ahead with a permanent facility in a former factory. However, further expansion to include an additional hall was halted due to the pressure to save money during the pandemic and this is now not scheduled to take place until 2030.

The venue is scheduled to open in February next year with a sports area of 1,000 square meters. Skateboarders and BMX riders in particular can perform their tricks there on curbs, stairs, steel railings and concrete edges.

Sports representative Florian Kraus (Greens) believes that the city can easily operate two such centers for a few years.

He said, “Sports facilities that can be used all year round and are not dependent on the weather are an important prerequisite for the development and establishment of trend and action sports, which are increasingly in demand among Munich residents.”

The activities that are not yet available in Pasing, such as bouldering, parkour, ninja warrior or trampoline, are to be accommodated in the ice sports center’s training hall.

In the ice-skating rink, BMX and skateboarding sports will have a halfpipe and a bowl to practice on. Mountain bikers can also ride on their own course.

A playing area is to be set up for basketball, roller disco or for street dancing, among other things. In the course of planning, the city wants to check whether other disciplines can be added.

The action sports center in the Olympic Park will be operated by the municipal Olympic Park Company.

Under the city’s social policy, there will be affordable entrance fees and a wide range of offers for children, young people and adults.

Clubs should be able to rent individual sports areas for themselves. Schools should also be able to visit the center free of charge as part of their lessons.

The municipality is making €2.6 million available per year for the operation of the large action sports center in the Olympic Park. This corresponds to the amount previously spent on use for ice skating and ice hockey.

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