24-hour city road closures for UCL final

CITY centre roads will be closed for more than 24 hours when the Champions League arrives in Cardiff.

Roads around the Principality Stadium – renamed The National Stadium of Wales for the finals – will close at different times across the weekend.

For example, Park Street will be closed from midnight on Friday, June 2 until 3.30am on Sunday, June 4.

Full details of road closures will be made public next month.

New guidance has gone out to businesses near the stadium telling them staff should carry ID with them at all times and they could be searched at any time.

Businesses are being visited by council staff to explain the impact on them as road closures will vary across the city.

Security measures will be put in place in what has been described by organisers as the “biggest security operation ever undertaken in Cardiff”.

There will be more police on streets and what’s been described as an “unprecedented” security operation with a focus on “hostile vehicle mitigation”.

A security perimeter will be put in place around the Principality Stadium and only those with tickets or valid accreditation will be allowed to access the areas next to the stadium on June 3.

Businesses neighbouring the stadium have also been asked to comply with “all relevant legislation and that you avoid any unintentional ambush marketing activity”.

The letter, sent by Cardiff council, says that “successful cities” need to “enhance the spectator experiences” by offering events other than just the game itself to fans.

That includes the festival village which will be open in Cardiff Bay for four days over the men’s and women’s finals.

But the warning letter says that in order to keep trying to attract large events, the city not only has to offer a “memorable experience” but make sure that commercial rights of sponsors are respected.

It adds that trademarks and copyright laws have to be followed due to the large amount of funding that they give the event.

The letter says that the commercial sponsors get the “right of association, particularly including the exclusive use of the tournament marks. If this right is not respected, the value of that sponsorship is undermined with the risk that future events will fail to meet their commercial income target.

“This in turn affects the city’s event reputation and jeopardises our ability to attract and deliver future events for our capital city.

“The successful staging of the events in June will increase the city’s chances of securing other major global sporting and non-sporting events.”

Work to get the city ready for the event will begin weeks before.

A hospitality village will be built in Bute Park as well as a huge temporary campsite in Pontcanna Fields.

There will be around 2,000 tents built to accommodate fans.

There will be extra trains and buses laid on to help fans get out of the city after the game. A temporary terminal will also be built at Cardiff Airport.

Last week it was revealed that the city’s newest road is expected to open in time for buses to use it to take fans away from the stadium quickly.

The new Eastern Bay link road will then open to general traffic the following week.

The ballot for Champions League final tickets closed yesterday.