FK Rostov threaten to move out of stadium for a concert
Wednesday 5 September 2018 16:01, UK
Russian Premier League side FK Rostov could move out of a brand new World Cup stadium over concerns a rap concert will ruin the pitch.
In August, the Rostov-on-Don side started playing their home games at the newly-built 45,000-seater Rostov Arena, which played host to Belgium's dramatic comeback over Japan in the World Cup last 16.
However, Russian rapper Basta is due to perform at the stadium on September 29 with Rostov's next home game being 11 days later, and the club say that the concert will cause "serious suffering" to the pitch.
In a press release published on its website, Rostov stated that in case of total damage to the football pitch, the first team's home games will be moved back to their old Olimp-2 Stadium, some 30,000 seats smaller than their new venue.
"The stadium management company 'Sport-In' decided to hold a concert on the pitch of the Rostov Arena, without taking into account the interests of the club," it said.
"Therefore, the home game against Ufa on September 22 may be the last match of the Yellow and Blues held at the Rostov Arena this season."
More than £250m was spent by the Russian government to build the new stadium, and booking World Cup stadiums for concerts is part of their plan to make up for the elevated costs of building and renovating the venues.
The Samara Arena, which hosted England's 2-0 win over Sweden in the quarter-finals, is another World Cup stadium whose future hangs in the balance - as only last week electricity was cut due to unpaid bills worth over £105k.
