Public access and recreational use
The CSU request follows earlier discussions about preserving the athletics stadium and expanding opportunities for recreational use. At a 2024 future workshop moderated by the Institut für Kooperative Planung und Sportentwicklung, participants supported keeping and renovating the stadium.
Workshop participants also favored adding recreational sports amenities to the outdoor and adjoining areas and opening them to the public as a place to exercise and meet, according to the institute.
An aging venue for schools and clubs
Opened in 1986, the Sepp-Simon-Stadion was built as a traditional athletics venue with support rooms, changing rooms and restrooms. Its grandstand has about 1,000 covered seats and roughly 7,500 standing places, according to the city of Schwandorf and the Institut für Kooperative Planung und Sportentwicklung.
The city lists a 105-by-68-meter main field, a 400-meter tartan track, jumping facilities, a water jump and a discus ring. Schools are the facility's primary users alongside sports clubs.
After 40 years, the stadium needs renovation, Onetz reported. Bulges in the track surface pose a health risk to athletes. As a result, the Stadtverband für Sport has had to relocate the charity run's start and finish to the adjacent field for the past two years.
Funding remains uncertain
Renovation has been a long-running goal. Onetz's coverage of the March 18, 2026, city council meeting said Schwandorf had been seeking to renovate the stadium for eight years, with government funding still uncertain. The city's building office had applied for €8.5 million in federal support.
CSU Bundestag member and Parliamentary State Secretary Martina Englhardt-Kopf said the federal government was providing €333 million annually for three years to renovate sports facilities. Demand in the first year was already 21 times the available funding, and Bavaria's annual share was €33 million, she said.
Englhardt-Kopf advised reducing the €8.5 million funding request and submitting a revised application.
