Berlin is fighting against decay: 410 million for sports facilities!

Berlin is fighting against decay: 410 million for sports facilities!

There is currently a lot of work being done on the sports facilities in Berlin - the city is facing a challenge that is spreading out like a wide, unkempt football field. A massive renovation backlog, as Tagesschau reports, calls for haste. In total, the financial requirement for the renovation of the sports facilities amounts to an impressive 410 million euros.

This renovation backlog is to be resolved with an annual budget of 24 million euros. The rush is great: almost 60 construction projects have been registered for 2025, with around 50 of them already approved. The majority of the funds provided were actually drawn down, which illustrates the high demand for these projects.

Wind and weather defy the sports facilities

What exactly is on the restructuring agenda? The most common measures on the list are measures at sports fields, such as replacing artificial turf or renewing changing rooms. The long-neglected Spandau Hakenfelde Stadium is finally being renovated after years of disrepair. The Erika Heß ice stadium will also be put back into operation for the winter season after the cooling system and roof structure have been repaired. You could say that there is a lot of thawing going on here!

However, there are also backward developments. In the Ernst Reuter Stadium, a dividing fence will be installed between home and away fans to ensure security. In Steglitz-Zehlendorf, however, the sports facility on Osdorfer Straße was not renovated due to a lack of personnel capacity. In addition, several projects in Treptow-Köpenick had to be returned due to personnel and delivery bottlenecks. An image that is far from the energy that one would like for the sports facilities.

A turbulent funding program

The situation is not made any easier by the new federal funding program for sports facilities. According to a study by Sportschau, this is causing a lot of discontent. Although 333 million euros are available in the new funding program, the bureaucracy and the unequal distribution of funding are causing dissatisfaction among municipalities. Large cities such as Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich in particular are taking a dim view when it comes to the distribution of funds - Cologne, for example, has so far had zero projects.

In Berlin, only 15 projects were funded under the previous program from 2015 to 2024, which is quite modest at just 0.41 projects per 100,000 inhabitants. The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) also expresses criticism of the lack of transparency and the selection criteria for funding. If we're honest, some people probably had a slight mishap while negotiating.

A look into the future

In addition to the existing challenges, budget cuts are an ongoing concern, directly impacting recovery funding. The CDU does not find the 24 million euros provided annually sufficient and has expressed concerns that the future Olympic Games in Berlin are in jeopardy. A decision will be made at the end of 2026 as to whether the city will actually be selected as the venue. Does this increase the pressure to tackle the renovations more quickly? We'll see.

In all the chaos, one thing remains clear: sports infrastructure and its maintenance are at the top of the agenda - for the benefit of all athletes and sports enthusiasts. Maybe politicians will bring a breath of fresh air into this matter before the first snow falls.