80,000-seat stadium on cards in B’luru outskirts
Karnataka plans an 80,000-seat stadium outside Bengaluru to enhance cricket infrastructure and address safety issues after a deadly stampede at Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Karnataka is preparing to shift the heart of its cricket activity out of Bengaluru’s city centre. The state government is backing a plan to build a new 80,000-seat international stadium on the outskirts of the capital, officials said.
The proposal, officials say, is both an expansion project and a corrective response to the crowding and safety lapses that culminated in the stampede at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium earlier this year.
At its meeting on Thursday, the state Cabinet directed the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) to prepare a Detailed Project Report for the facility, which will come up on 75 acres of land at Indlavadi village in Suryanagar’s 4th Phase Layout. The project, estimated to cost ₹2,350 crore, will return to the Cabinet for final approval once the report is complete.
For years, Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium — wedged between office towers and the city’s busiest roads — has been the centre of cricket in the state. Its location, however, has made it increasingly difficult to host large-scale events. Police officials say that even domestic matches trigger severe congestion across the city, especially during evening T20 fixtures.
“The matches, even those which are not international, result in severe traffic jams in the city. With T20 matches getting popular and since they take place at night, it collides with the peak traffic hours. So this will be in our favour, however, how it pans out depends on talks between KSCA and government,” said a senior traffic police officer, requesting anonymity.
The new venue is expected to become a multi-purpose sports complex, part of a long-term plan to relocate high-footfall events to the city’s periphery. A note tabled before the Cabinet described the project as “an international-level cricket stadium and complex” and pointed out that “many cities, both big and small, have stadiums that are bigger than Bengaluru.”
“The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is old and has a capacity of only 38,000. A Bengaluru Stadium, which meets the needs of the city with all the modern facilities, is a must for the city,” the note said.
The push to expand Bengaluru’s cricket infrastructure gained momentum after the June 4 stampede outside Chinnaswamy during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s victory celebrations in the Indian Premier League. 11 people were killed when an estimated 2.5 lakh (250K) fans tried to enter the stadium.
In proceedings before the Karnataka high court, which took up the case suo motu, advocate general KM Shashikiran Shetty said, “The event (at the stadium) was organised on behalf of RCB by DNA Event Management. KSCA is in charge of the stadium. All the security is provided by them in the stadium. All the deaths happened at the entry gates of the stadium. The problem is that 33,000 people were expected – which is the capacity of the stadium — but 2.5 lakh people turned out.”
Following the tragedy, chief minister Siddaramaiah acknowledged the limitations of the existing stadium and said the government would “look into this matter.”
Senior officials later briefed him that a larger venue outside the city was necessary to prevent similar incidents.
The government also received a judicial commission report from retired high court judge justice John Michael D’Cunha, who investigated the stampede. The commission concluded that the stadium’s location and design made it unfit for mass gatherings and recommended that no major events be held there until comprehensive safety measures were installed. “Until such infrastructural changes are made, continuing to host high-attendance events at the current location poses unacceptable risks to public safety, urban mobility and emergency preparedness,” the report said.
The judicial commission found that the stadium’s entry and exit points open directly onto public footpaths and that there are no designated holding areas for spectators before gates open.
“The design and structure of the stadium were unsuitable and unsafe for mass gathering. All the entry and exit gates were directly opening into the public footpath. Spacious and organised holding area for the crowd were not provided at the entry, as a result, the audience were forced to queue up on the footpath or the road abstracting and endangering the pedestrians and vehicular movements as well as giving scope for the miscreants to join the crowd aggravating the risk especially in the absence of proper security management,” the commission stated.
It further recommended that any event expecting large crowds be relocated to better-equipped venues, integrated with public transport and emergency services.
The proposal for the new stadium, officials believe, satisfies both sets of concerns: expanding capacity and improving safety.
