Hapoel Beersheba has sold out its season tickets for the upcoming campaign, with 12,600 passes snapped up for all stands at Turner Stadium. The club’s red supporters rushed to buy after the team won the championship, and the entire allotment was gone well before the season begins. That means Turner will be full for every home game of the reigning Israeli champion this season.
At the same time, Beersheba Municipality has moved forward with a tender to expand the stadium. The submission deadline is May 28, and bidders must provide a guarantee of about NIS 25,000. The city wants to add 14,000 seats, bringing Turner’s total capacity to 30,000. The initial cost is estimated at NIS 300 million, and the winner will serve as the project’s main planner.
The contract does not yet set a completion deadline. It will run from the signing of the tender until full, final completion of the project. The plan also calls for additional lobby floors, a new roof over the stands, and a surrounding layout for sports and leisure activities in an effort to generate extra revenue.
According to the Beersheba Economic Development Company, bidders must have experience building either a hall with at least 8,000 seats, with construction costs of no less than NIS 100 million, or two public buildings of 20,000 square meters each. Turner Stadium opened in 2015 after four years of construction and replaced the historic Vasermil Stadium. It currently has 16,126 seats. Israel now has two football stadiums with 30,000 seats, Sami Ofer and Teddy, while the country’s largest stadium is the 31,733-seat National Stadium in Ramat Gan, where only 7,000 seats are currently permitted.
