Extra Arena (previous called Ranheim Stadion) is the home ground of the Norwegianfootball club Ranheim Fotball.[1] It is located in the Ranheim area of Trondheim Municipality. A stand with about 1,000 seats under cover and a provisional stand with about 750 seats was built in 2010 to comply with the Norwegian Football Federation's seating capacity requirements for the top two divisions. The stadium's capacity was further enlarged in 2016 to comply with the 3,000 seats capacity requirements of the top division, Eliteserien.
The municipal libraryRanheim bibliotek and the gym 3T-Ranheim are integrated into the main stand's building.
History
The construction of grass pitch at the stadium was completed in 1939 at a cost of 8000 kr. The stadium had to be rebuilt after World War II. 5,000 spectators visited the reconstructed stadium at the first official post-war game against Vålerengen in 1946.[2]
Extra Arena is a part of a larger sports facility complex named Ranheim Idrettspark. Planning of a redevelopment of Ranheim Idrettspark was made in 2005, but due to Ranheim Fotball's promotion to the second tier (1. divisjon) in 2009 season, Trondheim Municipality wanted to speed up the process and finance an upgrade of Ranheim Idrettspark, e.g. a new artificial pitch with an underground heating system. This was an important step in Ranheim's stadium redevelopment needed to meet NFF's requirements for football stadiums in the two highest divisions.
Ranheim Fotball itself organised the expansion of the stands with approximately 1,000 covered seats and new floodlights facilitated TV broadcasting. The completion of the redevelopment was scheduled for 10 July 2010, in time of Ranheim's first home game after the summer break in the 2010 season,[3] but it was not finished until later that season.
Provisional stands with a total capacity of 750 seats was erected by volunteers, which increased the total capacity to 2,000 seats.[4] The renovated arena was first used on 11 July 2010 in a 1. divisjon game Ranheim lost 1–3 against Løv-Ham. 656 spectators paid to follow the match.[5] However, the official opening of the new arena was held on 26 September 2010.[6]
Ahead of the 2016 season, a new section of seated stands was built. The stand has a 1,500 capacity, which, including provisional stands, increased the total capacity to 3,000 .[7] 3,000 is the minimum number of seated capacity required in Eliteserien. The total cost of the stand was NOK 80 million.
Naming rights
On 5 July 2010, Ranheim presented DNB ASA as their new main sponsor and announced that the naming rights of the stadium was sold to DNB. The new name of the stadium became DnB NOR Arena.[8]
In March 2017, the stadium's naming rights were sold in a six-year deal to Norwegian cooperativeCoop Norge who wanted to use the stadium name to brand Extra, their discount supermarket chain.[9]
The nearest bus stop Ranheim idrettsplass is primarily served by AtB lines 1 and 44. Less commonly served lines include AtB lines 41 (weekday afternoons and evenings), 54 (early mornings Monday-Saturday), 106 (early mornings Saturday-Sunday), 201 and 202 (both of them school routes).
^"Ny tribune til 2016" [New stand to the 2016 season] (in Norwegian). Ranheim Fotball. 21 May 2015. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
