Roland Garros expansion plan timeline delayed to 2018 – Tennis News
Field of the Roland Garros stadium was expected to be expanded to accommodate more people inside the arena. The project was assumed to be completed by the end of 2017 but there has been a vital delay in the expansion plan and the
entire process will take a year longer than the initial proposed milestone.
The President of the French Open was glad with the improvements but had to air the sad news of a year-long delay that will ignite a layer of dissatisfaction amongst the French Open fanatics especially those living in Paris.
The initial cost that was accounted for the expansion plan was forecasted to be around 273 million Euros but the financial breakdown in the recent time along with the hyper inflation intact, the cost is revised to be around 340
million Euros (almost $444 million).
French Open tournament is contested in Paris at Roland Garros. The tournament was started way back in 1928 and the stadium that was constructed at that time isn’t sufficient to accommodate the demand of spectators. Hence, the decision
of increasing the surface are from 8.5 hectares to 12.5 hectares was proposed in 2009. The plan was taken into action and expected to finish in the next eight years but there seems to be a delay of one year with revised costs and timeline.
Apart from the expansion of the stadium, the facilities will also be improved with the installation of new plan. Light towers will be implanted along with the roof that will save the event from being delayed by any rain or weather
distortions. Roof will be available at the Centre Court and that will put the tournament in line with Australian Open and Wimbledon that have already installed that facility; US Open still remains an exception in this regard.
Jean Gachassin, a former Rugby International, stated, “We have four difficult years ahead us and we will need to tighten our belts both at our headquarters and in the provinces. We have been taking advantage of what we have and
now it is time to make efforts of our own.”
It will be exciting to witness a bigger crowd at the Roland Garros Stadium for the second Grand Slam of the year.
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