Tottenham's new stadium will include "the world's first retractable pitch, allowing the venue to hold both football and NFL matches," according to Ben Nagle of the London DAILY MAIL. The club's twitter account released a video on Thursday to demonstrate the "remarkable process, which will essentially see a football pitch built one layer above the NFL turf."
The stadium is due to open in '18, and Sheffield-based engineering company SCX was "recruited to build the retractable pitch." The football pitch will be used solely for Tottenham, while the NFL pitch below "will be used additionally for concerts and other events inside the venue." The turf for the football pitch will sit in three pitch-long steel trays weighing more than 3,000 tons each, which will "slide from under the South Stand and into the arena." The levels of the tunnel and sidelines will then "adjust to the correct height, with the entire process of NFL to football said to take approximately 25 minutes." SCX previously built retractable roofs over Wimbledon's Centre Court and No. 1 Court as well as "movable turf" at Royal Ascot racecourse (
DAILY MAIL, 9/7). ESPN.com's Dan Kilpatrick reported the ground also includes a separate dressing room and media facilities for the NFL. Tottenham Chair Daniel Levy previously said that he "plans to host back-to-back Premier League and NFL matches on the same day," and "hopes the ground will become the permanent home to an NFL franchise" (
ESPN.com, 9/7).
