Barclays Arena

The Barclays Arena stands in Hamburg’s western Bahrenfeld district, beside the Volksparkstadion football ground at Altona Volkspark. It is a large indoor hall opened in 2002, 150 metres long and 110 metres wide, with a roof 33 metres above the floor. The building was paid for by Finnish entrepreneur Harry Harkimo and the city, who sold the land for one Mark and added twelve million Marks for roads and utilities. The arena has hosted major pop and rock concerts and was once home to the handball club HSV Hamburg and the ice hockey team Hamburg Freezers. In 2007 Anschutz Entertainment Group bought the building for about seventy-five million euros. The name has changed several times: first Color Line Arena, then O2 World Hamburg, then Barclaycard Arena, and now Barclays Arena. Visitors find a single vast hall that can seat up to sixteen thousand people for concerts. The space is used for music events and sporting occasions such as the Dota 2 world championship. The arena sits next to the football stadium and the smaller Volksbank Arena, all within the Volkspark public park.