Bird’s Nest Post-Olympics
2 min readOn the first anniversary，of August 8，2009，the stadium hosted a performance of the opera Turandot，the 2009 Supercoppa Italiana（Italian Super Cup）final and the traditional curtain raiser to the Italian football league season.The Beijing Guo’an football club was scheduled to play at the stadium，but later backed out of their agreement，embarrassed of using more than 80000 seat venue for games that routinely draw only slightly more than 10，000.
On January 12，2009 the stadium’s owners announced plans for a shopping and entertainment complex.These plans，being developed by operator Citic Group，are projected to be achieved in three to five years.The stadium will also continue to function as a tourist attraction，while seeking sports and entertainment events.
The stadium hosted the 2009 Race of Champions.In July 2010，the stadium hosted a friendly football match between Football League Championship team Birmingham City and Beijing Guoan as a part of Birmingham’s pre-season trip to China，homeland of the club’s owner-Carson Yeung.
In spite of the lack of significant events，the stadium appears tobe quite profitable，drawing some 20，000 to 30，000 people a day at a price of 50 yuan admission.Recently it has been used as a snow theme park.The venue costs approximately $9 milion to maintain per year.Due to a lack of use，paint is already peeling in some areas.
On November 1，2010 the IAAF announced that the 2015 World Championships in Athletics will take place at the Beijing National Stadium.In August 2011，the Bird’s Nest once again hosted the Supercoppa Italiana，the second in three years and it hosted it once again in 2012.
