MasterCard Center

This article is about the indoor arena in Beijing. For the hockey arena in Toronto, see MasterCard Centre.

MasterCard Center
万事达中心
Exterior of arena
Former names	Wukesong Culture & Sports Center (2008-2011)
Location	Beijing, China
Broke ground	March 29, 2005
Opened	January 11, 2008 (2008-01-11)
Renovated	2009
Closed	October 2008 - November 2009
Owner	Bloomage International Investment Group
Operator	Beijing Wukesong Arena Management Co. Ltd
Architect	Gu Yonghui
Capacity	18,000
Website	mastercardcenter.com.cn
Tenants
Chinese Olympic Committee 2008 Summer Olympics

The MasterCard Center is an indoor arena for the 2008 Summer Olympics basketball preliminaries and finals. Ground was broken on March 29, 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 will become an important part of Beijing's Olympic Games heritage, and will allow citizens in the western districts and Beijing as a whole to enjoy cultural, sports, leisure, recreational and commercial activities. It will be a large-scale comprehensive project rare in Beijing in integrating cultural and sporting functions and commercial purposes with large-scale gardens and green space. South Korean best boy group Super Junior held their sold-out concert as part of their Super Junior 2nd Asia Tour Super Show 2 Tour

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) is a baseball stadium located next to the Wukesong Indoor Stadium at the Wukesong Culture and Sports Centre in Beijing, China. It is one of the 9 temporary venues at the 2008 Summer Olympics. It hosted baseball events.

The baseball field has a total land surface of 12,000 square metres and a capacity of 15,000. It includes 2 competition fields and 1 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^[1], Team USA clenched the bronze medal, while South Korea beat Cuba to claim the gold medal^[2].

After the Olympic games ended, the facilities were demolished, as planned, for a shopping mall.^[3][4][5]

Procurement information

• 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 will be started in second half of the year 2005, completed in May 2007 and the stadium will be completed in August 2007.

References

1. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25711127
2. ^ http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/baseball/n214579526.shtml
3. ^ http://www.baltimoresun.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/maryland/bal-sp.maese22aug22,0,7134288.column
4. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-beijing-bust22-2009feb22,0,5564951.story
5. ^ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2009-02/06/content_7450629.htm

Coordinates: 39°54′33″N 116°16′23″E / 39.90917°N 116.27306°E / 39.90917; 116.27306