A multifunctional arena in Munich was a dream project for Uli Hoeneß. The SAP Garden is now being officially opened. It is a story about trustworthiness and construction delays.
The opening of the SAP Garden is also something very special for Uli Hoeneß. For more than a decade, the patron of FC Bayern was intensively involved with a new multifunctional arena in Munich. However, when Hoeneß, a basketball sponsor, was accused of tax evasion and sentenced to prison in 2014, the prestige project was pushed far into the background for the time being.
But thanks to the persistence and financial strength of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, the vision of a modern multipurpose arena in Munich picked up speed again in 2016. When Hoeneß was released from prison, he says, one of the first letters he received was from Mateschitz. “Dear Mr. Hoeneß, I am very happy that you are back! If you are still interested in working with us, we or I am available for a conversation at any time,” it said.
A letter that moves you to tears
These are the days “when you have tears in your eyes when you get letters like that, and that’s when I knew it was the right partner,” recalled Hoeneß, who praised Mateschitz’s handshake qualities. The founding myth of an arena was born.
When SAP Garden is officially opened on Friday (8:30 p.m.) with the EHC Red Bull Munich vs. Buffalo Sabres ice hockey game featuring JJ Peterka, and the FC Bayern basketball team hosts Real Madrid in the Euroleague the following Thursday (8:45 p.m.), Hoeneß may even look back at the arena project with slight amazement.
A new landmark for Munich
Mateschitz died in the fall of 2022, but without his Red Bull millions – the talk is of around 150 million euros – the hall would never have become a reality. However, the Austrian repeatedly praised Hoeneß as the “engine of the whole project”. “Both sports,” that is ice hockey and basketball, would ‘profit unbelievably’ from the SAP Garden, said Hoeneß. ”Just as FC Bayern Munich profited from the Allianz Arena in soccer.”
Hoeneß regards the stadium in Fröttmaning as a reference project for the multipurpose arena in the Olympic Park. He said that the FC Bayern soccer team used to play in front of an average of 35,000 fans in the Olympic Stadium, but that the number jumped to 75,000 when they moved there. This not only means more prestige, but also more money. “In addition to the Allianz Arena, a second sports venue will be a showpiece for this city,” emphasized Hoeneß.
Corona and fires cause problems
The SAP Garden is an eye-catcher. This is ensured by the so-called pilaster strips, i.e. aluminum decorations that form an imposing outer cladding. Inside, where up to 10,600 spectators can watch ice hockey and 11,500 can watch basketball, the focus is on sustainability. According to the operators, the arena is heated entirely by the waste heat generated by cooling the ice.
More than four and a half years have passed between the excavation work on the site of the former Olympic velodrome in Munich’s Olympic Park and the so-called grand opening. In between, the coronavirus pandemic and a number of fires on the construction site caused delays. But now it can finally get started. Hoeneß is pleased.