IMS Arena

Before that, the site was known simply as the Baustadion while work was under way, and only took the name Stadion Velbert once finished — the IMS Arena tag came later still, arriving in January 2022 through a sponsorship deal with IMS Messsysteme.

The trade-off was a proper natural grass pitch with its own irrigation system, put together by planning firm Geo3 GmbH working alongside the city's Kultur- und Veranstaltungsbetrieb.

Outside matchdays, the arena earns its keep as a venue for hire — concerts, private functions, corporate events and fairs have all used the space, KAMRAD among the acts to play there. IMS Arena remains, first and foremost, a club ground built for a fraction of the crowd its site once held, and it shows in how the calendar around it has filled in with everything but football.