How Are Temporary Shelters Used In Sports Overlay Facilities

Summer is here, and the sporting world is alive with action from cricket, tennis, golf and, of course, football.

Smaller events, such as rugby sevens festivals, running events and functional hybrid fitness competitions are also taking place across the UK. 

While some of these events, such as Wimbledon tennis championships, are annual, some only roll around once every few years. The question of how to accommodate a huge increase in fans, competitors and staff at these times is vital for the success of the event. 

Some sporting bodies, along with sponsors and host countries, can support the building of brand new permanent stadium structures and stadium extensions. Some, however, have neither the financial nor spatial capacity to do that. 

The FIFA World Cup 2026, set over 16 venues in Canada, the United States and Mexico, is expected to have the highest capacity of fans ever for a football World Cup tournament. Organisers are anticipating a record 3.5 million people to attend matches in person. 

While these capacities only include attendees, another challenge is how to provide hospitality and broadcast facilities for the series of events at each location. 

This is a problem the biggest football event in the world shares with many other sporting events. The solution lies in overlay facilities.  

What are overlay facilities?

Overlay facilities is the name given to temporary infrastructure – shelter, equipment and seating – that is added to a venue to top-up its capacity. 

It is a term used in events management for the planning, installation, and removal of temporary structures needed for an event. 

It encompasses many different elements from expanding a stadium by thousands of seats or building a temporary sports building from scratch, to providing additional hygiene facilities, generators, flooring and more.  

It can also include temporary structures for concession stands, merchandise, bars, changing rooms, wellbeing facilities and first aid. The idea is that all of these additions can be removed once the extra capacity is not required. 

They can come in the form of cabins, converted containers, pre-fabricated buildings, canopies and free-standing or pop-up shelters.

What can temporary shelters be used for at sporting events?

The flexible sizing and ease of installation and de-installation mean that temporary shelters can be used for many sports events at a fraction of the cost of permanent buildings. 

Essentially, they provide a robust, weatherproof shell that can be used for almost any purpose, including:

• Bars, catering and hospitality

• Warm-up areas and changing rooms

• Storage and shelter for equipment

• Concessions and shops

• Wellbeing and first aid stations

• Meeting areas, conference rooms 

• Smaller arenas for indoor sports

• Ticketing booths and information points

• Checkpoints and security areas

• Press tents and broadcast facilities
  

While the huge international events are designed and planned years ahead, requiring agreement from many different parties, small events may not need as much planning or permissions for temporary structures.

What happens to overlay facilities after the event?

Some large events, such as the FIFA World Cup 2022 held in Qatar, required the building of several temporary sports buildings, such as the shipping container structure Stadium 974. 

In some cases, these types of stadiums or arenas can be repurposed for other events. In contrast, temporary shelters for hospitality, broadcasting and wellbeing are taken down between yearly events or reused at other locations. 

For most events, after the crowds have gone home and the echo of cheers has faded, the overlay facilities and temporary sports buildings are removed, leaving nothing but memories.