Daiwa House Premist Dome — Attraction in Sapporo

Was here for the rugby world cup games, really easy to get to from the centre of Sapporo just catching the Tohou subway line and then walking. The stadium itself is immaculately clean even after the games, the view from our seats was great and we were in the highest seats. The stadium was well set up for large crowds with police and volunteers everywhere to answer questions and show people where to go. The food inside was cheap and good but the beer was very expensive, a pint of beer costing around £9 these were poured from a tin rather than being drought so took a longer time to get, although the volunteers were extraordinary helping out whnever the queues got large we also saw an event organiser in full suit and tie get involved pouring beers to help out. Also the queues for the food and the merchendise were massive and were taking over an hour at some points, they sold out of certain items very quickly as well. The stadium is unique with the pitch being grown outside and then being rolled indoors inside a totally co ered stadium. The atmosphere was great with the locals really getting behind the English, Austalian, Fijian and...

The reasons why Sapporo Dome was abandoned by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters were High usage fees: Sapporo Dome raised the usage fees it charged Nippon-Ham per game, and it was said that the fee was around 8 million yen per day. This put a heavy burden on Nippon-Ham's management.

Inequity in revenue sharing: Most of the revenue from advertising and concessions at the stadium went to Sapporo Dome, leaving little profit for Nippon Ham.

Attraction of the new stadium: The new Escon Field Hokkaido stadium, which was built in Kitahiroshima City, has the latest facilities and a large site, and can provide a better environment, so Nippon Ham decided to move there.

Conflict with the government: One of the reasons was that there was no sign of compromise between the team and the government, with Sapporo City proposing a price increase in response to Nippon Ham's request for a reduction...

A great stadium with wonderful viewing from any angle, a cracking sound system and very clean. Unfortunately, the crowd management and staffing for the Rugby World Cup was atrocious. They seemed to be totally overwhelmed. It took over an hour for my parents to exit after the match, after being "kettled" into areas where the doors were closed. The staff weren't giving clear enough directions, and people didn't know where to go. 35,000 or so people had to go through one exit. At times it got a bit frightening, and thank god that everyone remained calm. It could have been a disaster.

It then took another hour to get onto a train. Considering the ticket prices, and the beer prices (¥800 for a small can of Heineken?) you would have thought that they could hire...