Kobol Stadium
| Kobol Stadium | |
| Dragon's Den Stadium | |
| Full name | The National Football Stadium of Kobol |
|---|---|
| Former names | Nobunag'an IV Arena |
| Location | Kobol, The Eventide Islands, The Hexarchy |
| Broke ground | 1685 AN |
| Built | 1688 AN |
| Renovated | 1692 AN |
| Expanded | 1689 AN |
| Surface | Turf Grass |
| Scoreboard | Four (three public, one private) |
| Construction cost | (mostly paid through the country's mita system) |
| Architect | Jonas Aradlugal from Arumen, son of Borat Aradlugal the wanderer |
| Project manager | Jurah Asbu-Kisib from Pyrax, son of Eris Aradlugal the wanderer |
| Structural engineer | The Government of Pyrax |
| General contractor | New Zamma Construction Corp. |
| Capacity |
65,100 (seating capacity) 66,060 (with private boxes and VIP lounges) |
| Executive suites | 60 |
| Record attendance | Unknown |
| Field dimensions | 120x72m |
| Tenants | |
| The Hexarchy national football team, others | |
Kobol Stadium is the third largest dedicated association football stadium in The Hexarchy, being surpassed in size since its completion by Ashtaroth Stadium in Astaroth, and the Praetorian Stadium in Marduk. Still designated as the primary stadium for The Hexarchy national football team, the stadium is situated in a hexagonal shape, and is designed to seat equal numbers of 10,000 people (including private boxes and premium seats) along each side. Twelve public entrances exist to the viewing area. These lead, after three sets of dividing stairs, to the rows' centers, and along the sections' intersections. The stadium as well as outlying buildings take up most of the island, with much of the surrounding infrastructure dedicated solely to one of three purposes: getting people on and off the normally-crowded island, maintaining the stadium, and ensuring the tourist experience is as close to idyllic as possible.
Despite the current naming of the stadium, it is owned wholly by Gilgamesh I of Arumen and Pyrax. The stadium's ownership changed hands after Gilgamesh II personally funded the reconstruction of a national stadium dedicated solely towards the sport of association football, on the site of the former Nobunag'an IV Arena. The idea of turning the regional arena into a dedicated association football stadium was touted for nearly five years, in an effort to successfully connect The Hexarchy with the other civilized nations of the world. It was widely hoped that
While the original arena was paid for with funds through the Eventide Island's central treasury, this treasury was sorely depleted by 1689 by other large projects. The collective Realm's uptick in trade due to treaties with nearby Alduria-Wechua was too late to make up lost ground, and they traded ownership of the stadium proper (but not the island) to whoever could afford the massive reconstruction it needed after the country's war of independence (and subsequent events). At this point, Pyrax and Eridu were both in a position to provide, but the latter was still consolidating recent gains from an expedition to the west.
The stadium was promptly demolished by the easiest method available to the Arumites: the biggest dragons they had available. The destruction was seen for miles, and the natives that rode the giant lizards were observed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Were it not for explicit orders to keep the island fully intact, they'd have likely blasted it back into the sea whence it had risen thousands of years before. The construction was done mostly through the Realm of Pyrax's mita system, or a somewhat primitive form of corvée, where labor was paid instead of currency for taxes during each year. With an ample workforce doing labor free of charges outside of food and shelter, the construction effort was (for the most part) phenomenally cheap -- and high-quality, thanks to the contributions of intellectual labor from the most highly skilled artisans, architects, and engineers available in the country.
The new Stadium took about two years past the end of 1686 to fully construct, during which no official matches of any kind were held in Kobol or its nearby islands. Upon completion and its opening to the public, the use of the Stadium outside of association football as well as (non-violent) marching band exhibitions during national competitions were henceforth banned by the Stadium's new owners. Lord Gilgamesh, having a fascination with the foreign sport, poured new funding into both the Stadium and the teams that used it. The first national match was the qualifier for the national team, the winner of said event being the Ashtaroth Eagles.
1689 was a slow year for the stadium since it opened. While the country's government, in a rare move, unified in a bid to host the 2021 Micras World Cup, it is unlikely that they will win due to a general lack of enough high-capacity stadiums within the country to host more than a few matches in more than two or three high-profile locations. This is an issue being actively worked on.
