New national football stadium proposed on site of Saeima vehicle depot

Plans for a modern national football stadium in Latvia may have to change location. Most likely, the idea of rebuilding the Skonto stadium in Riga, in order to create an arena for international matches, will have to be abandoned. Instead, a proposal has emerged to build the new stadium in Skanste, a Riga neighbourhood, but that would require demolishing the Saeima vehicle depot. The report comes from the Latvian Television programme "de facto".

Letter of intent and the new owner

The Latvian Football Federation (LFF), which runs football in the country, signed a letter of intent earlier this year on buying the Skonto stadium. However, while the government was still weighing up which site in Riga would be most suitable for a national stadium, the property was bought by a developer from Estonia.

The new owner plans to keep the Skonto stadium in operation for another five years. This means the federation's original idea has become hard to carry out for now.

The Skanste option

An alternative has been put forward by a Riga City Council official: to build a new football stadium in Skanste. A precondition of this solution would be the demolition of the Saeima vehicle depot, since the arena is proposed for that very site.

The source does not say whether any decisions on this location have already been made. For now, the choice of site for the stadium remains unresolved, while the options for rebuilding the Skonto stadium have narrowed considerably.