Spens Sports Center
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| Spens Sports Center | |
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| Location | Sutjeska 2, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia |
| Opened | April 14, 1981 |
| Owner | JP SPC Vojvodina |
| Architect | Žika Janković Branko Bulić |
| Tenants | |
| KK Vojvodina (Adriatic League) OK Vojvodina |
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| Capacity | |
| 9,000 | |
The Spens Sports Center or simply SPENS (Full name: Sports, business and economic centre "Vojvodina" - Novi Sad, Serbian Cyrillic: Спортски, пословни и економски центар "Војводина" - Нови Сад, Serbian Latin: Sportski, poslovni i ekonomski centar "Vojvodina" - Novi Sad) is a multi-purpose venue located in Novi Sad, Serbia, in the Vojvodina province. It operates under publicly owned company Vojvodina Sports and Business Center (JP Sportski i poslovni centar Vojvodina), which in addition to Spens also has Sajmište Sports Center under its umbrella.
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[edit] Features
Sprawled over 85,000 m2, Spens consists of main hall (which can house around 11000 people), 'small' hall (which can house around 3000), ice-hockey rink (which can house beetween 2000 and 3000), bowling alley, shooting range, 3 training halls, swimming pool, 11 tennis courts, media center, 2 press centers, amphitheater, reception salon, conference hall, double-level garage, and 215 retail and business spaces that house banks, furniture stores, tourist agencies, jewelries, bookstores, pool halls, fitness clubs, boutiques, etc.
Its construction was completed in less than 2 years, and on April 14, 1981 Spens opened its door for the first time.
The inaugural event was the 36th World Table-Tennis Championship in 1981. Main hall capacity is 9,000 seats.
[edit] Sports
Spens' most famous residents are basketball's KK Vojvodina (participating in Sinalco Superleague) and volleyball's OK Vojvodina.
In 1987, Spens hosted basketball's European Cup Winners' Cup Final. Cibona Zagreb defeated Scavolini Pesaro 89-74.
The venue received its biggest media exposure when it hosted round-robin action of Eurobasket 2005 in group D which consisted of Spain, Estonia, Israel and host country Serbia and Montenegro. For this occasion Spens received a major facelift that included improvements to building's technological capabilities, overhaul of its media center and addition of two video boards - one on each end of the main hall.
Since volleyball is very popular in Novi Sad, Serbia's national volleyball team often plays its FIVB World League home matches in Spens, as well as its friendly warm-up games.
[edit] Other
In addition to sporting events, Spens is often utilized as venue of choice for numerous concerts, film premieres, conventions, etc.
First ever concert in Spens was by Sedmorica mladih and it drew 5,000 people. Since then, acts like Miroslav Ilić, Lepa Brena, Ceca, Đorđe Balašević, Dragan Stojnić, Legende, Haris Džinović, Zdravko Čolić, Indexi, Leb i sol, Goran Bregović, SMAK, Let 3, Psihomodo Pop, Asian Dub Foundation, Eyesburn, E-Play, Kosheen, Riblja čorba, Vlatko Stefanovski, Dragoljub Đuričić, Noise Destruction, Lajko Felix, Boban Marković Orchestra, Van Gogh, Kemal Monteno have all graced its stage.
