ERDGAS Sportarena

The hall at Nietlebener Straße 16 is a working space. It is not designed for spectacle. The wooden parquet floor is the main feature, laid out for basketball or handball, not for a boxing ring. The seating is tiered, but the rows are close together, giving the impression of a tight squeeze rather than a spacious venue. The capacity of 1,200 is not a large number for a national arena, but it fits the scale of the room. The air inside must feel different from the open-air grounds in the city. It is enclosed, with a roof that covers the whole playing area. The name on the wall has changed since it opened in 2014. It was once the Erdgas Sportarena, named for the gas company that sponsored it. Now it carries the SWH.arena title, reflecting the city utility company that bought the naming rights. The building itself has not changed, only the sign. The tenants are local: the Wildcats and the Syntainics MBC. They play here because there is nowhere else for them in the city. The floor is natural wood, not synthetic. It creaks when you walk on it, and it shows the marks from previous matches.

The hall at Nietlebener Straße 16 is a working space. It is not designed for spectacle. The wooden parquet floor is the main feature, laid out for basketball or handball, not for a boxing ring. The seating is tiered, but the rows are close together, giving the impression of a tight squeeze rather than a spacious venue. The capacity of 1,200 is not a large number for a national arena, but it fits the scale of the room. The air inside must feel different from the open-air grounds in the city. It is enclosed, with a roof that covers the whole playing area.

The name on the wall has changed since it opened in 2014. It was once the Erdgas Sportarena, named for the gas company that sponsored it. Now it carries the SWH.arena title, reflecting the city utility company that bought the naming rights. The building itself has not changed, only the sign. The tenants are local: the Wildcats and the Syntainics MBC. They play here because there is nowhere else for them in the city. The floor is natural wood, not synthetic. It creaks when you walk on it, and it shows the marks from previous matches.