Burgdorf Wrestling Festival
Location
Burgdorf, Switzerland
Year
2024
Products
Grandstands, stadiums and arenas
From August 1 to 11, 2024, Burgdorf became the center of Swiss Schwing. Within just a few days, three major events—the Oberaargau Schwing Festival, the Emmental Schwing Festival, and the Bern Cantonal Schwing Festival—took place at the same venue. For this occasion, NUSSLI built a temporary arena with seating for nearly 10,000 spectators and provided the infrastructure for an unforgettable Schwingfest experience.
An arena for three Schwing festivals
Swiss wrestling festivals are among Switzerland’s most time-honored sporting events and attract thousands of spectators every year. To enable three wrestling festivals to be held at the same location within a short period of time, a flexible and high-performance arena was needed. NUSSLI planned and built a temporary Schwing arena that met the needs of organizers, athletes, the media, and visitors alike. The arena remained in place throughout the entire series of events and served as the shared venue for all three Schwing festivals.
Octagon Arena with seating for nearly 10,000 spectators
The centerpiece of the project was the temporary grandstand complex with its distinctive octagonal shape. The arena offered a total of 9,648 seats and ensured an excellent view of the wrestling rings from all areas. The eight straight grandstand blocks were connected by so-called “spickels.” One side was deliberately left open, allowing access to the arena and ensuring optimal integration of the event infrastructure. This design created a compact spectator arena with an electric atmosphere surrounding the competition area.
Infrastructure for Media and Accessible Seating
In addition to the spectator stands, NUSSLI constructed other infrastructure elements to support professional event operations. Media representatives had access to 44 press seats and a 6 × 5-meter TV platform, which provided optimal conditions for television broadcasts and reporting. Accessibility was also an integral part of the project. A separate platform measuring 12 × 3 meters provided space for ten wheelchair users and ten accompanying persons, ensuring an unobstructed view of the competition.
Efficient Implementation with Modular Grandstand Systems
The arena was constructed between early and late July 2024. The infrastructure remained in place throughout all three Schwing festivals and was completely dismantled within a few days after the conclusion of the Bern Cantonal Schwing Festival. Thanks to the proven modular Grandstand Systems Thanks to NUSSLI, the arena was completed cost-effectively, precisely, and on schedule. The individual system components can be flexibly adapted to different event formats and reused for other projects after each use.
