St. Jakobshalle

St. Jakobshalle is an arena in Münchenstein, near Basel, Switzerland. It is primarily used for indoor sports and concert events. The arena originally had capacity for 9,000 people and was opened in September 1976. It is the home of the Swiss Indoors men's tennis tournament.

St. Jakobshalle
Main entrance before renovation work (2006)
LocationMünchenstein, Switzerland
Coordinates47°32′23″N 7°37′07″E
OwnerCity of Basel
Capacity12,400
Construction
Broke groundApril 19, 1971
OpenedSeptember 26, 1976
Renovated2015–2018[1]
ArchitectGiovanni Panozzo[2]
Renovation: Berrel Berrel Kräutler in collaboration with Degelo Architekten
Tenants
EHC Basel (1976–2002)
Website
www.stjakobshalle.ch

The building has different sized halls and rooms, which are used for all types of events. Each year, the world's elite badminton players gather for their international grand prix tournament and the best European Sepak takraw players meet.

History

The Swiss Indoors men's annual tennis tournament is held at the St. Jakobshalle since 1975 and the Women's Top Volley International since 1989. International equestrian tournament CSI Basel is held at the venue every year since 2010. Other sporting events include the 1986 World Men's Handball Championship, 1991 Swiss Open, 1998 IIHF World Championship, 2006 European Men's Handball Championship, 2024 European Women's Handball Championship and the World Men's Curling Championship in 2012 and 2016.

It was the home of EHC Basel ice hockey team from 1976 to 2002 before the team moved to the St. Jakob Arena, which opened in October 2002.

According to Bob Dylan's biography Chronicles: Volume One, he decided after a concert at St. Jakobshalle to go on the Never Ending Tour.

Renovation

In January 2015, the Grand Council of Basel-Stadt approved a loan of CHF 105 million for the renovation and modernisation of the hall, with 89 votes in favor and one abstention.[1] Between 2016 and 2018 the venue was comprehensively renovated and its technology upgraded to state-of-the-art. It reopened in October 2018 and now has a capacity of 12,400 in the main arena.[3]

After the success of the Swiss tennis player and Basel native Roger Federer, the Basel sports director had announced the arena was to be renamed the 'Roger Federer Arena' following the current renovation,[4] but this was blocked in a local council vote.

See also

References
  1. "St. Jakobshalle erhält Kredit" – via www.bazonline.ch.
  2. http://www.stjakobshalle.ch/__temp/Urkunde.pdf%5B%5D
  3. "St Jakobshalle opens after $110 million refurbishment". Audience. October 31, 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  4. Roger Federer Has Arena Named After Him in Basel Archived 2012-07-30 at the Wayback Machine The Tennis Times June, 10 2009

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