LeSports Center

The LeSports Center (simplified Chinese: 乐视体育生态中心; traditional Chinese: 樂視體育生態中心), originally Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center (simplified Chinese: 五棵松体育馆; traditional Chinese: 五棵松體育館), is an indoor arena for the 2008 Summer Olympics basketball preliminaries and finals. Ground was broken on 29 March 2005 and construction was completed on 11 January 2008. The stadium has a capacity of 18,000 and covers an area of 63,000 square metres. It was scaled back from its original design due to a 43% budget cut.

The stadium was constructed by "Beijing Wukesong Cultural & Sports Co. Ltd." whose five shareholders are Zhongguancun CENCONS Group, Haidian State-owned Assets Investment Co. Ltd, Beijing Urban Construction Group Co. Ltd, Beijing Urban Construction Co. Ltd and the Tianhong Group. After the Olympic Games, the center become an important part of Beijing's Olympic Games heritage, allowing citizens to enjoy cultural, sports, leisure, recreational and commercial activities. It was a large-scale comprehensive project rare in Beijing in integrating cultural, sporting functions and commercial purposes with large-scale gardens and green space.

On 6 January 2011 MasterCard Worldwide, the rival of Olympic sponsor Visa, announced the acquisition of the naming rights to the Center. It was renamed MasterCard Center effective from 21 January 2011.

On December 14 2015 The KHL announced that the Beijing hockey expansion team would play in the arena.

On 16 December 2015, LeTV Sports announced that it has obtained naming rights for Beijing's iconic Wukesong Arena. It will be renamed as LeSports Center officially from 1 January 2016. Beyond that, LeSports promises to provide a package of intellectual services inside the arena and out.^[1]

Baseball field

Wukesong Baseball Field during the MLB China Series in 2008.

The Wukesong Baseball Field (simplified Chinese: 五棵松棒球场; traditional Chinese: 五棵松棒球場; pinyin: Wǔkēsōng Bàngqiúchǎng) was a baseball stadium located next to the Wukesong Indoor Stadium at the Wukesong Culture and Sports Centre in Beijing, China. It was one of the nine temporary venues at the 2008 Summer Olympics. It hosted baseball events.

The baseball field had a total land surface of 12,000 square metres and a capacity of 15,000. It included two competition fields and one training field.

In March 2008, the stadium hosted two games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres called the MLB China Series, marking the first time Major League Baseball teams played in China.　

In what was to be the final Olympic Baseball matches in the foreseeable future, as the International Olympic Committee voted-out the baseball event for the upcoming 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in favor of golf and rugby sevens,^[2] Team USA clenched the bronze medal, while South Korea beat Cuba to claim the gold medal.^[3]

After the Olympic games ended, the facilities were demolished, as planned, for a shopping mall.^[4][5][6]

Procurement information

Wukesong Indoor Stadium, during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

• Main building: construction materials, ventilation equipment, electrical equipment, water supply and drainage etc.
• Sports field: special wooden sports flooring
• Accessory equipment: stands seats, stand protection and lifting system, illumination, electronic displays, communication and broadcasting equipment, fire fighting equipment etc.
• An Information Age building: network system equipment, network technical equipment, network solutions, security system, database technologies and products.
• An Intelligent building: acoustical equipment, air conditioning, elevators, electronic monitoring, electronic fire-fighting systems, etc.
• Outdoor engineering: garden, afforestation and square tiles etc.
• Project Venue: The project is located at the intersection of the extended section of Chang'an Street and the West 4th Ring, adjacent to Wukesong Station on metro Line 1.
• Construction Scale: The planned construction area is about 350,000 square meters.
• Construction Schedule: Construction began in March 2005. The baseball field started in second half of the year 2005, completed in May 2007 and the stadium completed in August 2007.

Notable events

Concerts

Sporting Events

References

Coordinates: 39°54′36″N 116°16′29″E / 39.9099889°N 116.274664°E / 39.9099889; 116.274664

Olympic venues in basketball 1936: Tennis Courts, Tennis Stadium (final) 1948: Harringay Arena 1952: Messuhalli (final), Tennis Palace 1956: West Melbourne Stadium, Royal Exhibition Building (final) 1960: Palazzo dello Sport (final), Palazzetto dello Sport 1964: National Gymnasium 1968: Juan Escutia Sports Palace 1972: Basketballhalle 1976: Centre Étienne Desmarteau, Montreal Forum (final) 1980: CSKA Palace of Sports, Indoor Stadium (final) 1984: The Forum 1988: Jamsil Gymnasium 1992: Pavelló Olímpic de Badalona 1996: Georgia Dome (final), Morehouse College Gymnasium 2000: Sydney SuperDome (final), The Dome and Exhibition Complex 2004: Hellinikon Indoor Arena, Olympic Indoor Hall (final) 2008: Wukesong Indoor Stadium 2012: Basketball Arena, North Greenwich Arena1 2016: Olympic Training Center – Arena 1 2020: Saitama Super Arena NOTE: During the Olympic Games, venues that have naming rights sold may not use their name during the Olympic Games.

Olympic venues in ice hockey 1920: Palais de Glace d'Anvers 1924: Stade Olympique de Chamonix 1928: St. Moritz Olympic Ice Rink 1932: Olympic Arena (final), Olympic Stadium 1936: Olympia-Kunsteisstadion (final), Riessersee 1948: Kulm, Olympic Stadium (final), Suvretta 1952: Dæhlenenga, Jordal Amfi (final), Kadettangen, Lillestrøm stadion, Marienlyst stadion 1956: Apollonio Stadium, Stadio Olimpico Del Ghiaccio 1960: Blyth Arena (final), Squaw Valley Olympic Skating Rink 1964: Messehalle, Olympiahalle 1968: La Patinoire Municipale, Le Stade de Glace 1972: Makomanai Ice Arena (final), Tsukisamu Indoor Skating Rink 1976: Messehalle, Olympiahalle (final) 1980: Olympic Center 1984: Skenderija II Hall, Zetra Ice Hall (final) 1988: Father David Bauer Olympic Arena, Olympic Saddledome (final), Stampede Corral 1992: Méribel Ice Palace 1994: Gjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall, Håkon Hall (final) 1998: Aqua Wing, Big Hat (final) 2002: E Center (final), Peaks Ice Arena 2006: Palasport Olimpico (final), Torino Esposizioni 2010: Rogers Arena (final), UBC Thunderbird Arena 2014: Bolshoy Ice Dome (final), Shayba Arena 2018: Gangneung Hockey Centre (final), Kwandong Hockey Centre 2022: MasterCard Center (final), Beijing National Indoor Stadium NOTE: During the Olympic Games, venues that have naming rights sold may not use their name during the Olympic Games.