Yucatán’s ‘sustainable stadium’ project is moving to a yet-to-be-announced location after months of protest by people living in Mérida’s north.
Construction work on Mexico’s most technologically advanced sports complex has yet to kick off — despite its original 2023 completion date.
Residents of the area argue the yet-to-be-built stadium would have brought a litany of problems including a worsening of traffic and a parking shortage. The area is a gateway between the Centro and the beach and threatens to make trips each way much longer.
The director of the project, José Antonio Téllez, had previously described the location of the new stadium as “perfectly ideal for the needs of the city.”
The new stadium was announced in 2020 as an ecologically ‘sustainable’ project, upstaging the renovated Kukulcan stadium in the south.
Earlier: Tensions flare over plans for Mérida’s new stadium
The stadium is to be built in one of six locations the government is currently considering, though no further details regarding where this may be have been released to the public. The details are kept secret to prevent land speculation, officials said.
A Cordemex site, the grounds of a former school now being used as a state police helicopter base, has been benched.
If the new stadium comes to fruition, it will be the new home to both the Venados football club and the Leones de Yucatán baseball team.
It will also be a concert venue for up to 32,000 people, much larger than Yucatán’s current best option, the 10,000-seat Foro GNP Seguros, formerly Coliseo Yucatán, which opened in 2014.
The circular facade of the stadium’s design features a mix of the avant-garde with pre-Hispanic details inspired by the ring of the Mayan ball court. On the sides, native glyphs will be covered by transparent solar cells in an allusion to Merida as the “White City.”
