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	Capacity		60,355
	Opened		July 22nd, 2006
	Owner		Arsenal FC
	Pitch Dimensions		114 x 71 yards

The Emirates Stadium is a football ground located on Ashburton Grove in Holloway, north London, and the home of Arsenal Football Club since it opened in July 2006. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of 60,355. During the planning and construction stages, it was known as Ashburton Grove before a naming rights deal with the airline Emirates was struck in October 2004.

The stadium is a four-tiered bowl with roofing over the stands but not over the pitch. The design team was made up of architects HOK Sport, construction consultants AYH, and engineering firm Buro Happold. The stadium was constructed by Sir Robert McAlpine on the site of the former Ashburton Grove industrial estate, several hundred metres from Arsenal’s former stadium Highbury.

The upper (26,646) and lower (24,425) tiers of the stadium are standard seating. For the 2006-07 season, ticket prices for an adult ranged between £32 and £66 for most matches, but as cheap as £13 for juniors. (designated “Category B”), with the price rising for “Category A” matches against certain top sides to between £46 and £94. Season ticket prices for 2006-07 ranged between £885 and £1,825.

The main middle tier, known as the “Club Level”, is premium priced and also includes the director’s box. There are 7,139 seats at this level, which are sold on licences lasting from one to four years. The cost of club tier seats for 2006–07 ranges from £2,500 to £4,750 per season and covers admission to all home league games and any home games Arsenal play in the UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup. These were sold out by May 2006.

Immediately above the club tier there is a small tier consisting of 150 boxes of 10, 12 and 15 seats. The total number of spectators at this level is 2,222. Box prices start at £65,000 per annum plus VAT, and covers admission to all home league games and any home games Arsenal play in the UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup. The most exclusive area in the stadium is known as the “Diamond Club” which is invite only and costs £25,000 up front plus £25,000 a year. Tickets here include use of a private lounge, a complimentary restaurant and bar, valet parking and concierge service. Members will also have the option of travelling to European away games on the players’ aeroplane.

Due to the high demand for tickets and the relative wealth of their London fanbase, Arsenal expect the revenue from their premium seating and corporate boxes to be nearly as much as the revenue from the entire stadium at Highbury.

The pitch is 105 × 68 metres in size, making it the joint-largest pitch in the Premiership, while the total grassed area is 113 × 76 metres. It runs north-south like at Highbury, with the players’ tunnel and the dugouts on the west side of the pitch underneath the main TV camera. The away fans are found in the south-east corner of the lower tier. The away supporter configuration can be expanded from 1,500 seats to 4,500 seats behind the south goal in the lower tier, and a further 4,500 seats can be made available also in the upper tier, bringing the total to 9,000 supporters (the regulation 15% required for domestic cup competitions such as the FA Cup and Carling Cup).

The upper tier is contoured to leave open space in the corners of the ground, and the roof is significantly canted inwards. Both of these features are meant to provide as much airflow and sunlight to the pitch as possible. Arsenal have a reputation for having one of the best playing surfaces in the world, and the design of the new stadium took this into account. This does have the effect that supporters in the upper tier on one side of the ground are unable to see supporters in the upper tier opposite. In the north-west and south-east corners of the stadium are two giant screens suspended from the roof. The club are currently in the process of examining whether to add a third giant screen in the north-east corner of the stadium.

The new stadium pays tribute to Arsenal’s former home, Highbury. The club’s offices are officially called Highbury House, located north-east of Emirates Stadium, and house the bust of Herbert Chapman that used to reside at Highbury. Three other busts that used to reside at Highbury of Claude Ferrier (architect of Highbury’s East stand), Denis Hill-Wood (Former Arsenal chairman and father of current chairman Peter Hill-Wood) and Arsene Wenger (current Arsenal manager) have also been moved to Emirates Stadium but they are currently in storage.

Additionally, the two bridges over the railway line to the east of the stadium, connecting the stadium to Drayton Park, are called the Clock End and North Bank bridges, after the stands at Highbury; the clock that gave its name to the old Clock End has been resited on the exterior of Emirates Stadium facing the bridge of the same name. The Arsenal FC club museum, which was formerly held in the North Bank Stand, opened in October 2006 and is located to the north of the stadium, within the Northern Triangle building.

Access

The Emirates Stadium is served by a number of London Underground stations and bus routes. Arsenal tube station is the closest for the northern portion of the stadium. Holloway Road tube station is the closest to the southern portion, but will be exit-only on matchdays; it is currently estimated that £60 million is required to give the station the appropriate capacity to deal with the crowds, but only £7.5 million had been set aside in the planning permission for upgrading the station. Drayton Park station will continue to be shut on matchdays as the rail services to this station do not work at weekends nor after 9 pm. This has proven controversial as congestion still remains an issue, with roads being clogged over an hour after the end of games.

The next nearest stations are Finsbury Park and Highbury and Islington, which are served by both Underground and First Capital Connect services. Both are approximately a 10 minute walk away. In addition there are numerous bus routes serving the area. Driving to the Emirates Stadium is not recommended; strict matchday parking restrictions will be in operation around the stadium. In addition, for one hour before kick off to one hour after the final whistle there will be a complete ban on vehicle movement on a number of the surrounding roads, with no exceptions.

Generally, the stadium opens to ticket holders two hours before kick off. For easy stadium access, the stadium is divided in to four colour-coded quadrants – Orange and Blue at the North end of the stadium, and Yellow and Green to the South. The club shop, named “The Armoury”, and ticket offices are located near the Yellow Quadrant.

The stadium operates an electronic ticketing system where members of “The Arsenal” (the club’s fan membership scheme) use their membership cards to enter the stadium, thus removing the need for turnstyle operators. Non-members are issued with one-off paper tickets embedded with an RFID tag allowing them to enter the stadium.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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Arsenal Football Club official website
Emirates Stadium wikipedia entry
Arsenal World fansite
www.arsenal-land.co.uk fansite
Arseweb fansite
The Football Association
The Premier League Website
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