New year, new national stadium

The end of the year brings back memories of the triumphs and defeats of the past 12 months. Our boxing champ and congressman from the south went all the way south of the canvas; our lovely Binibining Pilipinas came one place short of conquering the universe; and finally our Azkals were nipped out of our first Suzuki Cup finals by just one goal.

Manny Pacquiao’s blindsided loss totally came from left field (pardon the mixed metaphors). Janine is obviously the fourth in an annually improving trajectory that our pulchritudinous Pinays are taking; next year being the target for the actual crown. It was the Azkals that I had personally invested my hopes on for the Philippines to shine.

Philippine football’s brightest stars have been doing quite well in mini tournaments and friendlies throughout the season and in the run-up to the Suzuki Cup. The locally bred members of the team were also showing up their foreign-based teammates. Edsa, or Ed Sacapaño, our substitute goalie, came into his own and was solid as a rock.  Chiefy scored a goal. Of course, it was not good that the Younghusbands had been distracted by showbiz of late, but this opened opportunities for younger athletes to come up the ranks.

What boosted many fans’ hopes was the possibility, which came to fore, that the Azkals would reach the semis and finally be able to play a home game. The news that the Rizal Memorial pitch had been improved enough to meet FIFA standards was met with cheers by Azkal fanatics.

We did get this chance, albeit only once, as the Azkals played the Singapore Lions to a draw. The event put into focus the deficiencies of the Rizal Memorial pitch. The actual playing surface was not bad, but it was the seating capacity of the stadium that falls short of what the Azkals and what we all need to boost Philippine sports to the global level.

The Rizal Memorial Stadium started life as an athletics stadium built for the 1934 Far East Olympics. It was and still is part of a complex that includes a baseball diamond and stadium (where Babe Ruth and the Yankees played before the war), a swimming complex and a tennis facility including the Rizal Memorial Indoor Stadium, which was the home of Philippine basketball for decades. This was actually designed as an indoor tennis stadium.

The Rizal Memorial Football facility, now the home of the Philippine National Football team Azkals, seats fewer than 13,000 people. This pales in capacity to Singapore’s National Stadium (undergoing a complete makeover to host a maximum of 60,000 fans and a two-hectare retractable dome to shade fans from the sun) and Malaysia’s Bukit Jalil National Stadium with a capacity of just under 88,000 screaming spectators. The Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok  has a capacity of a shade below at 50,000. The Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore, where the Azkals fought the second leg of the semis, seats only 8,000 but this is a secondary venue and a temporary replacement for the main stadium undergoing reconstruction for the Asian Games next year.

The roar of the home crowd and the electrifying ambience of a huge venue is enough to push athletes’ performances beyond the ordinary and make champions of any team. National stadia are also landmark structures for the cities and the countries that build them; think Olympic games, or even Asian Games.

A new national stadium for the Philippines, ideally part of a new National Sports Complex, would benefit not just the Azkals, but all national teams, Metropolitan Manila and the Philippines as a whole. We have two years to the next Suzuki Cup and it is inevitable that Philippine football with grow enough to assure we make it to the finals and that we can fill a stadium with at least 30,000 people to watch a home game.

The current Rizal Memorial Complex is now too small, too crowded and lacking in support facilities. La Salle University and its complementary condominiums are crowding out the facility. Now that its campus has little green left, the school has an arrangement with the complex to use its fields for campus sports. Why not just sell or lease the property very long term to La Salle? So long as the school conserves the heritage art deco structures, the deal would be a win-win situation for everyone. The proceeds from the sale would go a long way to rebuilding the complex elsewhere.

Recent news has indicated that a new national sports complex is being planned outside Manila, in Laguna. The choice seems to be dictated by cost of land. I believe that this is not the ideal choice and that within Metro Manila there are two viable options.

The first is the CCP complex. At 60 hectares or so, the complex can spare the 20 hectares minimum area required for a national sports complex. The move would also ensure that high-rise condominiums and mall would not compromise the larger complex (although commercial locators can fill in spaces between facilities and generate income for the combined sports and culture complex. The proposal would also develop the entire district as essentially a public space with parks, open space and both cultural and sports facilities.

The second option is the UP campus. The triangle defined by Commonwealth Avenue and University Avenue can allow a much larger complex than the CCP. The move would also boost the campus’ deficiencies in sporting facilities and an arrangement with authorities would also allow parking facilities for students and faculty. This complements a future internal transit system (the trial line of an innovative monorail people mover system, built by the DOST, is already completed).

The UP option is better because public transport lines are already nearby. The future LRT-7 will run parallel to this area and a station for this and the UP would then make a lot of sense. The CCP is far from the Taft alignment of the LRT (a situation that also reduces its function as a cultural center of the people).

Also in the news recently are plans to shore up the Palarong Pambansa as a key program of government. Hundreds of millions are spent every time this is held in the provinces; and this for facilities that end up as white elephants. I do not suggest that provincial venues be forgotten but that the UP-located venue be used every other staging of the event so as to fund its proper development.

Another way to build this complex is to pitch for the next Southeast Asian Games or even the Asian Games for that matter. The whole exercise could even be a PPP project. Major developers are keen on maximizing the potential of areas around the UP anyway (and the UP itself is already partnering with some of these developers). It is a win-win situation that could also see the building of dormitories for UP students. The 6,000 rooms that is the requirement of the UP today can house the athletes of the games (about the same number by the way).

It’s a new year. Why don’t we plan a new stadium and a National Sports Complex? It would take about three to four years to build it, and we could hold the Suzuki Cup finals in 2016 with tens of thousands roaring for the Azkals to win. If we built an integrated complex, we could also hold both boxing championships (Pacquiao-Marquez-8?) and who knows, maybe even the Miss Universe beauty pageant. We will then be able to train our athletes, enhance the UP campus, support our sports heroes …and bring world peace!

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The amazing aerial images in this article come from the 2013 Philippine Yearbook, now available at all leading bookstores. Feedback is welcome. E-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.