OWL Arena, formerly Gerry Weber Stadion, is a multi-purpose
stadium
A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
, located in
Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia
Halle (), officially Halle (Westf.) or Halle Westfalen (i.e. Westphalia) to distinguish it from the larger Halle (Saale), is a town in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, 15 km west of Bielefeld. It belongs to the district of Güters ...
, in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. The capacity of the arena is 12,300 people and it opened in 1993.
In early 2020, a consortium of 13 sponsors became owner of the venue and its name was changed to ''OWL Arena''.
Facilities
The stadium has a retractable roof which can be closed in 88 seconds, which rules out the risk of tennis matches having to be suspended because of rain. It is one of the few
grass court
A grass court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament.
While grass courts are more tra ...
tennis venues around. The stadium is heated and also used for other sport events (
handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...
,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
,
prisonball,
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
and
boxing
Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...
),
TV show
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...
s and
concert
A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...
s.
Halle Gerry-Weber-Stadion railway station is located 500m from the stadium on the
Osnabrück
Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...
to
Bielefeld
Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...
railway line.
Events
The tennis arena hosts the
Halle Open
The Halle Open (known as the Terra Wortmann Open for sponsorship reasons) is a men's tennis tournament held in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Held since 1993, the event is played on four outdoor grass courts and is a part of the ATP Tou ...
every year in June. On 2 April 2005, Irish vocal pop band
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...
held a concert for their
The No 1's Tour supporting their album ''
...Allow Us to Be Frank''.
In January 2007, several games of the
Handball World Championship took place there; most of them were sold out with 11,000 spectators.
See also
*
List of tennis stadiums by capacity
The following is a list of notable tennis stadiums by capacity, that is the maximum number of spectators they can regularly accommodate.
Notes:
* Stadiums ordered by their capacity (if equal, by the first stadium to reach the capacity)
* Some of ...
*
List of indoor arenas in Germany
The following is a list of German Arena, indoor arenas. Indoor stadiums with a capacity of at least 2,000 are included.
Existing arenas
;Notes
*Note 1: Only selected games are played in the arena.
References
See also
*List of footbal ...
References
External links
Official siteWorld Stadiums siteWikimapia siteStadionwelt Gerry weber stadion detailDavis Cup Germany vs France February 2006
{{Authority control
Indoor arenas in Germany
Tennis venues in Germany
Retractable-roof stadiums in Europe
Handball venues in Germany
Halle (Westfalen)
Sports venues in North Rhine-Westphalia
Buildings and structures in Gütersloh (district)
1993 establishments in Germany
Sports venues completed in 1993