One of the biggest tasks will be expansion of catering and hospitality facilities from 3,000 m 2 to 33,000 m 2within 48 months. The football club is also asked to invest RUB 500 million (€7 million) in necessary refurbishments at the stadium over 4 years.
While Zenit's task is to take the burden off of taxpayers, annual maintenance of the stadium is expected to cost RUB 1.3 billion (€18.25m) and by Zenit's tenancy end it's estimated to double! Zenit will play Celtic FC on February 22 and the club has announced yesterday that only 3,500 tickets are left, not counting the away section.įilling the stands on a weekly basis will be much more difficult and breaking even at the stadium might prove a true challenge. With 68,000 seats the stadium is too large for Zenit's domestic football needs, but on the other side there is no other team to try and build its fanbase around a venue that large.įirst test is coming very soon and it seems Russian fans will pass it with flying colours. In return Zenit is pledging to make the best of this impressive yet notorious giant. Sounds too good to be true? Of course! That's only one side of the deal. The venue is also exempt from property tax and VAT. The deal is worth 1 ruble per year, which means the club will pay less than $1 for almost half a century. Once the contract is officially signed, Zenit will begin its 49-year reign at the stadium.
Yesterday the administration of Saint Petersburg officially confirmed that only Zenit filed a proposal to manage Stadion Sankt Petersburg on Krestovskiy Ostrov.