The Sportpaleis was built in the early 1930s in the northeast of Antwerp, next to what is now the Ring road. It quickly gained its reputation, both in Belgium and abroad, as a velodrome for cycling competitions that also staged trade fairs and concerts. During the Second World War, the building was hit by more than 220 grenades and rockets, leading to high-cost repairs. The De Winter family, who owned the building, opted to rebuild with the idea of a broader scale of events and introduced ice skating shows and indoor sports like the Harlem Globetrotters, boxing and horse jumping.

Ironically, it was when the venue was at the top of its concert game in the 1970s – with legendary performances by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Pink Floyd, Supertramp and The Rolling Stones – that “the first signs of decline appeared,” says Vereecke. “The owners failed to keep up with the evolution, and, with declining public interest in skating and indoor cycling, the building remained empty most of the time.”

In 1982, events company City 7, backed by the investor group NV Sportpaleis, acquired the venue for €500,000 from the De Winter family and programmed new events like the Diamond Awards music festival and the prestigious European Community Championship (ECC) tennis tournament, both attracting huge crowds and injecting life into the country’s largest event hall. But behind the scenes, all was not well. “Concert promoters and external event organisers were facing exorbitant rental rates and moved elsewhere,” remembers Vereecke. When, in 1996, nv Sportpaleis filed for bankruptcy, it was discovered that they had been overselling the legal capacity of the venue “for many years,” says Vereecke. “Instead of the 11,000 allowed audience, some events drew over 18,000.”

Under the receiver’s management, the “Jannen” (Jan Vereecke and Jan Van Esbroeck), who were already staging their Night of the Proms in Sportpaleis, took over management of the venue. “The first thing we did was to upgrade the safety of the building by excavating a 40-metre -wide tunnel as an emergency exit under the stands, a one million euro investment that could be recuperated because the Sportpaleis was a going concern,” says Vereecke. “I’m happy to say we’ve never used it.”

In 1997, the Province of Antwerp bought the Sportpaleis, with the management handled by NV Antwerp Sportpaleis, a consortium of shareholders, including Vereecke and Van Esbroeck’s PSE-Belgium, an event production and merchandising company. Since then, the front of the building has been expanded and a new hospitality area built.

Wooing Billboard

The Sportpaleis has grown from 27 events in 1996 to more than 100 in 2008, with a total attendance of 1.3 million people. That’s the second largest annual audience number in the world, after New York’s Madison Square Garden. This has much to do with the diversity of events, from Walking with Dinosaurs and Night of the Proms to Eric Clapton and Marilyn Manson. Throw in a large capacity and a management that now continually innovates, and the Sportpaleis has become a “must stop” for many international tours.

“We have adapted the venue’s infrastructure,” says Vereecke, who explains that one of the deciding factors in determining which venues to book for some big shows is, believe it or not, “the loading facilities”. Sportpaleis has equipped one of the grandstands with a hydraulic elevator and added a truck gate at the front of the venue. “A revolutionary construction, allowing up to five trucks at a time in the central arena, which drastically reduces loading time,” he explains. “In 2001, the venue posted U2’s world tour load-out record.”

Speaking of rock stars…

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but, in most cases, the audience gets to see more of Elton John or Rammstein than we do!” laughs Vereecke, in response to my probing for gossip on the big stars who come through the Sportpaleis every year. “We provide box office takings to the artist’s management and arrange police escort when necessary, but it’s the promoter who takes on the more practical side: catering, hotels, loading crews.”

But the Sportpaleis is often called on to assist with special requests. “With Tina Turner, we were asked to provide a specific type of table tennis equipment for her crew: a new table, paddles and balls,” says Vereecke. “Think about your own experiences: you book a nice hotel in a holiday resort; they promise table tennis, but, in most cases, the table is broken, the net is missing…we kept the customer satisfied.”

Because Sportpaleis combines top-selling local productions like Clouseau and Milk Inc, prices for international artists like Tina Turner remain competitive. “Both the Netherlands and Germany charge more for the same shows,” says Vereecke. “Ticket rates here are under pressure because of [the ticket prices of] local productions; promoters know what the audience is prepared to pay. Dutch event-goers who live near the border come to the Sportpaleis rather than pay more in their own country.

The Sportpaleis is also a welcome help for local sports and cultural associations who get a substantial income by tending the venue’s bars during events.

New kid on the block: Lotto Arena

When the plans for the Lotto Arena were drawn up, Vereecke and Esbroeck were ready. “Starting from scratch allowed us to make a true multi-functional building,” he says. The 8,000-seat venue just opened in 2007 and is already an integral and substantial part of the cultural landscape in Flanders. Last month, the Lotto Arena – located right next to the Sportpaleis – hosted Els De Schepper, the first time a stand-up comedian has ever been booked in such a large venue in Belgium.

In its nearly three years, the Lotto Arena has seen four million visitors pass through its doors. “And now we want to rebuild the Sportpaleis with all the assets of the Lotto Arena,” says Vereecke. “Together with the Province of Antwerp we’re preparing an ambitious plan for a major facelift of the Sportpaleis.” The management team has already applied for a building licence for the construction of a new roof, to start next year, and there are plans to replace the fixed cycle track with something more mobile.

www.sportpaleis.be 

Coming up

Apassionata • 8-10 January ◊ Lotto Arena
Horses and humans put on a show of beauty
and acrobatics
Depeche Mode • 23 January ◊ Sportpaleis
The nearly 30-year-old new wave band supports
its new album
Disney on Ice • 3-7 February ◊ Lotto Arena
Disney princesses glide through fairy tales
and massive castles