Ashtaroth Stadium
| Ashtaroth Stadium | |
| The Great Eye | |
| Full name | The National Football Stadium of Ashtaroth |
|---|---|
| Location | Port and City of Ashtaroth, Asshyria, The Hexarchy |
| Broke ground | 1694 AN |
| Built | 1707 AN |
| Surface | Artificial Turf Grass |
| Scoreboard | Six (five public, one private) |
| Construction cost |
178 billion Sols (labor provided through the country's mita system) |
| Architect | Imhotep Horemheb from Karnak, son of Astrakhan Horembeb of Abyd'os |
| Project manager | Nagumo Mechazawa from The Imperial Federation |
| General contractor | New Zamma Construction Corp.; Kobol Heavy Industries; Marduk Heavy Construction Corp. |
| Capacity |
102,000 (seating capacity) 104,286 (including VIP boxes and lounges) |
| Executive suites | 120 |
| Record attendance | 74,499 (grand opening) |
| Field dimensions | 120x90m |
| Tenants | |
| The Hexarchy national football team, Ashtaroth Eagles, others | |
The National Stadium of Ashtaroth is the largest dedicated association football stadium in The Hexarchy. Constructed at the massive cost of 148 billion Sols (~ 1.5 billion Natopos), the massive complex is also the most technologically sophisticated, and the most expensive sporting arena ever built in the Hexarchy. Ashtaroth Stadium is the centerpiece of a vast cultural, civil, and military modernization project carried out by Praetor Gilgamesh II in the later years of his reign. Known for its circular design, it can be seen from space, where astronauts have commented that the stadium looks like a giant eye from space, hence its official nickname being given by the Praetor during its grand opening games in 1708 AN, during which the national stadium building project was concluded.
The stadium is situated in a circular, multi-story shape, a design meant to maximize the 100,000+ people during maximum attendance. Standing arrangements are not allowed in the gigantic stadium, for fears of both crowd press during chaotic or emotionally riveting games, fear of "fire hazards," and the poor international image that may come from having a stadium that looks too small to seat all members present (although, at its capacity, this has never yet happened). As with Kobol Stadium, the design calls for one large main entrance for parade purposes, as well as a further twelve public entrances that 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 a significant portion of Astaroth's urban sprawl, and the stadium's massive shopping complexes have become saturated with luxury hotels and other massive high-rises that offer permanent (if faraway) views of the pitch that sell for astronomical sums to wealthy buyers.
Because of the national nature of the project, the stadium is owned jointly by the Port and City of Ashtaroth and by the Praetor of the Hexarchy. The idea of building a grand stadium in the Hexarchy's largest coastal metropolis took some twenty years to accomplish, with construction finally breaking ground in 1694 AN to hushed press, as it was fearful of reporting on what could be a doomed megaproject in a crowded city. Meant to attract the most wealthy denizens in the region (especially the locals in Kunapura) to the massive city, the stadium was also a massive city project meant to turn Astaroth into a global city.
While the stadium's sheer expense was laughed at by the Council of Six, they were nonetheless cowed into approving the funds after being reminded of the unfortunate decision made in the Praetor's absence to turn Midway into an international transportation hub by expanding the city's infrastructure well beyond its then-current population's capacity to use. With an empty stadium in Midway on the cards, the new megaproject was meant to deflect away from the newly enriched country's egregious use of funds for national vanity projects, instead of on redoubled military modernization efforts in the wake of a lack of recent, threatening enemies. Nonetheless, construction funds continued to be approved each year for the national project, and the Praetor's personal obsession with the sport would bear the country fruit on the international scene.
The new Stadium took about thirteen years past the end of 1694 to fully construct, during which no official matches of any kind were held in the pitch. However, the ongoing project was constantly advertised as the spearhead of a master national plan to develop the country into something resembling the now-splendid metropolis, with promises of national prosperity to follow. The stadium was designated as the primary headquarters of the newly-reformed Ashtaroth Eagles in 1706 AN and, upon completion and its opening to the public, it was declared as the second headquarters and primary stadium of The Hexarchy national football team
The stadium first saw use in 1709 AN, with matches played on the freshly completed mega-stadium in the form of exhibitionary match between several teams competing for places within the rapidly expanding Six Nations League, which was seeing new life coming into it following the completion of smaller, but similar projects across the country.
