Pavel Kuka was 10 years old when he first heard about a new stadium for the Slavia Praha soccer club. "The club officials showed us a model of a new stadium, and, naturally, most of us dreamed of playing there," he said.

While Kuka grew up to become a celebrated striker at home and abroad, he never fulfilled his dream of playing in the new stadium. For nearly three decades, the Prague-based team was forced to postpone construction due to a lack of funding.

Thanks to a private partnership, Slavia finally broke ground on a planned 21,000-seat Prague 10 arena Oct. 16. Kuka, now a soccer scout, could take the field after all — as an old-timer.

"It'll be the first brand-new sports arena built on a green field in this country in years, and not a mere renovation of an older facility," said Martin Kotík, the architect of the new Slavia stadium.

The 1 billion Kč ($44.3 million) arena will also accommodate commercial spaces with shops, restaurants, a hotel and a conference center.

The stadium is set to become the second major sports facility built in recent years, after the indoor 17,500-seat Sazka Arena opened in February 2004. It is also the first of several major sports facilities scheduled to be built, as the government and investors seek to match the sites of other countries.

"Apart from a few major stadiums, we lack a big amount of leisure-time sports facilities," said Miloslav Mašek, general director of the Union of Entrepreneurs in the Building Industries (SPS).

Gravy train

Former Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek said in late May that the government would pitch in 1 billion Kč for a new national soccer stadium in Prague expected to cost 3 billion Kč in total. A plan has been in the works for more than a decade.

The Czech Soccer Association (ČMFS) came up with an idea to expand Toyota Area in Prague 7, the home of AC Sparta Praha, from the current 20,000-seat arena into a 35,000-seat national stadium.

The ČMFS said it could be ready by 2012, but ČMFS Chairman Pavel Mokrý said in early October that the exact location of the project was still being discussed.

Prague will likely accommodate a car-racing track in the former industrial district of Strašnice. Racing promoter and businessman Antonín Charouz said Oct. 16 that he plans to develop a 22 billion Kč racing complex that would include car dealerships, a new hotel and a multifunctional indoor arena, and that the facility would be constructed within three years.

Prague City Hall officials, including Mayor Pavel Bém, supported Charouz's project and welcomed the fact that it would be fully financed by private sources.

One of the largest "ice parks" in Europe opened in Plzeň, west Bohemia, in mid-October. The 1,100-square-meter (12,000-square-foot) outdoor facility, which has an artificial polymer surface, accommodates a hockey rink as well as a skating track for the public. The ice park will enable the general public to practice winter sports year-round.

The most uncertain sports facilities currently being discussed are related to Prague's push to host the Summer Olympics by 2020.

Preliminary financial studies commissioned by City Hall show that some 21 billion Kč would need to be invested into the development of various sports facilities in the capital.

"The Summer Olympics would bring even more of a boom in the construction of sporting facilities in this country," Mašek said. "Investments would increase by tens of billions of crowns."

But there is strong debate about whether the city can afford to host the games. Bém said the issue should be decided by referendum next spring.

Expensive maintenance

Lost in the excitement surrounding the new facilities are concerns about how they will pay for themselves once they are constructed.

Financing major sports arenas has already become a nightmare for many cities in the Czech Republic. Low attendance and a lack of top-caliber events make most arena administrations losing ventures, requiring subsidies from municipal budgets to stay afloat.

"I don't know any sports arena here that could finance itself," said Zbyněk Pražák, deputy mayor of Ostrava, north Moravia. His city pays 40 million Kč every year in subsidies to maintain the indoor ČEZ arena.

Other newly constructed arenas, Tipsport Arena in Liberec and Sazka Arena in Prague, have also had major financing difficulties. Tipsport Arena lost 3 million Kč in its first year of operation. Meanwhile, Sazka Arena's operator Bestsport has insisted the arena is profitable, but, in order to keep the stadium in the black, the company lost 150 million Kč in 2005.