Examination in model case clubs

Shonan Bellmare: A stadium that serves as centre for community interaction

The stadium will be equipped with facilities and functions in line with the four themes of “Protect” (disaster prevention), “Nurture” (medical care and health activities), “Enjoy” (sports, live entertainment performances and activities, and community exchange events), and “Inherit” (passing on local history and culture), with the aim of creating a regional exchange centre for disaster prevention, health, sports, and entertainment.

©Azusa Sekkei Co., Ltd.

Fagiano Okayama: A stadium that serves as a community interaction centre for sports and health activities

As a comprehensive sports club, Fagiano Okayama will focus on redeveloping and modernising existing comprehensive sports facilities during the construction of its new football stadium, with the aim of contributing to the improvement and promotion of local sports capabilities. In addition, the club aims to add value to the complex as a comprehensive training centre by adding a medical clinic, rehabilitation facilities, and an athletes’ cafeteria. Furthermore, by hosting various sports and nutrition education cooking classes, opening the medical clinic and rehabilitation facilities to local residents, and creating new running courses and stations, the sports complex, including the new football stadium, will become a local sports and wellness exchange centre, not only to generate revenue but also to enhance the club’s social value and contribute to local health and wellness activities.

Our goal should be “Stadiums that can be used by everyone in the community”

Strengthening of disaster prevention functions

・Develop the functionality of stadiums as emergency shelters.
(Requirements: independent power supply, access to water for domestic use, access to communications, access to the required number of living spaces (toilets, showers, baths, beds, etc.), ancillary medical facilities, stockpiling of supplies, universal design)

Ancillary medical facilities

Establish sports medicine and rehabilitation centres as stadium ancillary facilities that can provide advanced sports medicine for everyone in the community, from local athletes to the elderly.

Redevelopment as sport complexes

・Establish comprehensive residential training centres for all athletes, including local junior and senior high school students, athletes affiliated with corporate sports teams, and professional athletes.
・Establish indoor and outdoor sports facilities, wellness facilities, sports and cooking class facilities, running stations, and other facilities that can encourage healthy lifestyles among local residents.

Efforts to attract private and public investments

・Construction of stadiums alongside public facilities (e.g. government offices, libraries, art and other museums, educational facilities, MICE facilities, etc.)
・Construction of stadiums alongside private sector facilities (commercial, residential, tourism, etc. facilities, offices, data centres, etc.)

Concluding remarks by WG Advisor Kazuhiko SAWAI, Associate Professor at the School of Commerce, Meiji University

As local authorities grapple with financial difficulties, an ageing population, and a falling birth rate, the validity of concepts such as boosting local economies through multi-purpose, multi-functional stadiums is being questioned. In view of this situation, at the working group we have been considering the modality of stadiums with “local communities” rather than “football” as the main theme, and the possibility of developing them as complex public facilities that provide disaster prevention and medical care.
The strength of J.LEAGUE is that it is not a one-off event like the Olympics, but has the potential to become a lasting human and social capital rooted in the local communities. The Olympics take place over a very short period of time, but the J.LEAGUE is there to stay in each region. Disaster prevention and healthcare work effectively when many human resources and not just facilities are involved. It is necessary to consider and promote stadiums for local communities that utilise the strengths of J.LEAGUE clubs as human and social capital in the regions.