Leipzig and Berlin to present Olympic bid plans on May 27
Burkhard Jung, Lord Mayor of the City of Leipzig and Vice President of the Association of German Cities, poses for a photo during the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Association of German Cities at Messe Hanover. Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
The cities of Leipzig and Berlin will present their plans to bid for the 2040 Olympics on May 27, Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung said during a debate in the city council, according to Friday's edition of the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper.
The discussion focused on the Red Bull arena's forecourt and the framework plan for the area around the stadium. A hall for ball games with 5,000 seats is to be built there.
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The existing Quarterback-Immobilien-Arena, home to the handball club SC DHfK Leipzig, is to be expanded to 12,000 seats. The construction of a parking lot and other infrastructure improvements are also planned, and the framework plan has been approved.
"We want to get Leipzig ready for big sports events and that also explicitly includes an Olympic bid. For that, we need an infrastructure that already today thinks about the tomorrow," city councillor Christina März was quoted by the newspaper.
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