The new 15,000-capacity Nokia Arena in Finland has opened ahead of staging next year’s 2022 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Ice Hockey World Championship.
The Tampere venue, which will host over a million visitors annually, is to stage sports and concerts and will also house restaurants, shops and a hotel.
The venue’s first major event will be staged on December 15, when Eppu Normaali and the Tampere Philharmonic play. Andrea Bocelli and Sting are both on the programme for early 2022, before Nokia Arena hosts the Ice Hockey World Championship in May 2022.
Nokia Arena was designed by architect Daniel Libeskind and is owned by LähiTapiola, OP, Ilmarinen, SRV and the City of Tampere.
Nokia – which has signed a five-year naming rights agreement – shared this tweet to welcome the venue’s opening, which features a video of the telecoms company’s branding being installed.
It is lights on! 💡 With installation complete, today the Nokia Arena opens its doors and welcomes its first visitors. 🎉 https://t.co/lijJuJMoj3 #NokiaArena #Tampere pic.twitter.com/59fWqdNfD2
— Nokia (@nokia) December 3, 2021
The arena is deigned to offer state-of-the-art digital experiences with digital screens that encompass 1.2 billion pixels. Nokia and telecoms company Elisa will deploy a 5G network in Nokia Arena.
Speaking recently, Tommi Uitto, president of mobile networks and country senior officer for Finland, Nokia, said: “Customer experience both in physical and virtual events is changing radically with the introduction of new digital platforms and technologies.
“Nokia Arena is not only a state-of-the-art venue for sport, music and business events, but also a Finnish landmark. Nokia was founded in Tampere 156 years ago and today Finland continues to be one of Nokia’s key R&D centres in 5G and beyond.
“This partnership further reinforces our commitment to Finland, and we look forward to seeing Nokia Arena as a pioneer in world-class stadium experience.”
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