Populous Senior Principal: There is huge growth of soccer in China

Christopher Lee is one of the world’s leading sports architects. He has worked around the globe for high-profile sports clients and on major international sports events, designing more than 30 stadia on six continents. These include the main stadium for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Millennium Stadium in Wales for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, the Aviva Stadium, and Arena das Dunas in Natal for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Mr Lee is currently leading the design of the 61,000-seat Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the 90,000-capacity lead stadium for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Yutang: How do you see the potential for new stadiums in China?

Christopher Lee: “There is huge growth of soccer in China. There are amazing opportunities to grow the sport, grow the club, then that starts demand for the stadium facilities that are comparable with the supporter base, and the growth of the business.”

Yutang: How do you see the Chinese market right now, and going forward?

Christopher Lee: “We’ve done a lot of work through Asia, and a lot in China, and in Singapore. We’re familiar with working in the region, and technology is incredibly important. It is an augmenter, rather than a replacer of atmosphere and fan engagement. It’s all about the live event. We can use technology to make the experience better, entrance, exit, buying, digital signage, second screen stats, and all of that. But it doesn’t replace the amazing experience of being in the live venue. Jerry jones famously once said: ‘Only 7% of his fans would ever step inside the Dallas Cowboys stadium,’ - so when you think of it like that, you have to ask how is he going to communicate with the other 93% of his fans, and technology is clearly the way to do that. “

Yutang: What is the technology that is coming most imminently, in stadiums?

Christopher Lee: “There is pragmatic stuff, that is unglamorous, and you would expect, such as entry by phone systems, cashless buying, pre-ordering. The bits we’re interested in is how digital integration works, such as interactive signage and way finding. One issue at stadiums is finding the nearest food, or toilet. With digital signage, you can have an interactive signage that shows not just the nearest toilet, but the one with the smallest queue. From a branding and sponsorship perspective, you can have tech that works work out the demographics in certain areas, so you can identify where certain age groups are sitting, and the advertising can alter to reflect that demographic to suit ROI (return on investment).

Yutang: What are the challenges for a young sports league for creating atmospheres at its stadiums?  

Christopher Lee: “It’s such an interesting one, because atmosphere is critical to success. There are some great examples. In the early 80s, in Italian football, they used to have the huge, high fences at the front of the terrace tiers, but on television that came across as empty stadiums. They were only seeing the lower half. They couldn’t see the 50,000 above them. So people had this terrible idea about Italian football, a perception that no one was attending the matches, because that was the TV product. The creation of the atmosphere is important to tapping into genuine fans, and the facilities are important for that. It’s a mix of science and art. Acoustics and sight-lines are important, to encourage singing, the reverberation times - the quicker they are the longer the songs last - the noisier it becomes in a seating bowl the noisier everyone else becomes. Seattle Seahawks have the world record for loudest crowd noise, which are related to acoustics.”    

Yutang: Alongside this, what is the marketing philosophy behind creating an atmosphere?

Christopher Lee: “The idea of community is important. In our daily lives, it’s so rare to be in a crowd of 50,000 people or more – so it is magic, it’s totally incredible. Despite big screen televisions and the fantastic portrayal of sport on TV, people still go out and watch it live at the stadium, because it is a phenomenal event and very rare. It’s the experience of being part of something that is bigger than you, this sense of belonging and community, means people will always be drawn to the live event.” 

Yutang: What do you have planned in China in the future?

Christopher Lee: “We have offices in Beijing and Shanghai. We’re very interested in taking our football-soccer experience from the UK and Europe, and taking it there, and seeing how we could assist any of the football clubs in China. My grandparents were Chinese, originally from Shanghai, and ended up in Australia. I do feel connected to China.”

Yutang: Do you think there is anything unique about stadium or arena crowds in Asia, and China especially, and how might your stadium designs encourage this special atmosphere?

Christopher Lee:  “Yes, I do, I think the MLS in the United States is not a dissimilar set up to the Super League in China. When soccer started in the US, it was the fifth or sixth sport, behind other developed sports. The key to their success, was developing ‘soccer specific’ stadiums, of the right capacity – 20-25,000 seats - always full, bespoke designs, rather than playing in ball parks, or NFL stadiums. It’s now the third sport there, and may become the second sport. It’s very unique, and there is a lot of passion. I did a stadium in Texas, for the Houston Dynamo – and the atmosphere there in the seating bowl is phenomenal. The fans adopt crowd behavior from La Liga, Brazilian and English football, and integrate it, and make it their own. The soccer specific stadiums were very much part of the drive to success. The previous effort in the 1980s failed, partly because they were playing in 80,000 seat NFL stadiums, and everyone saw them as the second team. As soon as they moved to their own facilities, with unique designs, sized correctly, great atmosphere, people could see there was something special, and were excited about the games.”    

This article was assisted by Jonathan Powell, contributing writer of Yutang Sports at The Telegraph Business of Sport Conference in London.