A History of Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield Don Valley stadium in Sheffield was officially opened in 1990 and became the second biggest athletic stadium in England. Project Managers in Yorkshire played a pivotal role in ensuring the successful planning and implementation of the construction of the stadium. As Aristotle said -"First, have a definite, clear, practical ideal, a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your end; wisdom, money, materials and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end. Project Management. Without the services of Project Managers in Yorkshire it would have been difficult to ensure the build and development of Don Valley stadium was managed to agreed quality, deadlines and within budget. Once construction of the stadium was complete it had a seating capacity of 25,000. The seats were divided between banks of the sunken bowl, which were almost 5 meters below ground level, (with a total of 15,000 seats) and the southern main grandstand (with a total of 10,000 seats). The structure had a very distinguishing feature in its yellow steel pylons supporting the tensile roof, with each one measuring over 25 meters in height. The initial purpose of Don Valley stadium was to host sporting events as part of the 1991 World Student Games in Sheffield. It was essential that it was ready in time to hold this international multi-sport event on behalf of the International University Sports Federation. After the 1991 World Student Games ended the stadium went through many phases and had multiple different uses, including hosting concerts and professional football matches. Detailed below are some of the more notable historic events at the stadium: • • • • • •
• •
Sheffield group, Def Leppard played the venue’s first ever rock concert in 1993 Michael Jackson played a sold-out concert to 50,000 fans in 1997 The Spice Girls played two sold out concerts at the stadium in 1998 The Rolling Stones played concerts at the stadium in 1999 and again in 2006 Jessica Ennis, 2012 Heptathlon Olympic champion trained at the stadium U2 first played the stadium in 2009 as part of their 360° Tour, which was unique at the time as it featured the largest stage ever constructed for a live a music concert Sheffield Eagles Rugby Football League Club played their home games at the stadium during the 2009-2010 season Rotherham United Football Club played all their home games at Don Valley stadium between 2008 to 2012, before they opened the New York Stadium in Rotherham in 2012
Due to the development and emergence of various stadiums within the region, demand for hosting events at Don Valley stadium became significantly less and a financial burden was put onto public spend to keep the stadium open.