Below is the letter from the president to the members in full:

Dear Unioners,

For many years, we have been working towards the urgently needed expansion of our stadium. The requirements of the necessary development plan process demands a lot from us, taking time, energy and money. The long duration of this process stretches all our patience, which is why I would like to inform you today about the current status and an important decision on our part.

Despite all efforts, we have so far been unable to reach an agreement with the relevant senate administrations on how the traffic infrastructure around the Stadion An der Alten Försterei can accommodate the planned 40,500 visitors on match days, allowing them to get to the stadium and back home in an acceptable time for all parties, while not excessively burdening the normal traffic flows in Köpenick.

At the same time, we are receiving numerous messages – from individual members as well as from fan clubs and groups, expressing the desire for significantly more seating than previously planned. Yes, many of us are getting older and simply cannot stand for as long anymore, and many very young Unioners are not able to either. We understand that.

In order not to fundamentally jeopardize our intergenerational project and thereby our competitiveness, we have made a pragmatic decision and communicated to the responsible authorities of the state of Berlin: We plan to equip the future upper tier of our stadium, in addition to the already presented sectors 3 and 5, with seating in sectors 2 and 4, while keeping the lower tier completely with standing places as planned. With around 18,800 standing places and 15,700 seating places, we will have a total capacity of around 34,500 places in a stadium suitable for the Bundesliga after the expansion, which we urgently need. The new Alte Försterei will rank among the TOP 20 stadium capacities in Germany with this size, while putting less strain on the traffic in our surroundings.

The detailed distribution of the new total capacity into seating and standing places, as well as the specific design, especially of the upper tier on the Waldseite, will be discussed in the coming weeks with relevant fan groups in the club. As always, we will try to achieve a good balance of interests between different needs, reconciling economic viability and fan interests. The new Alte Försterei will in any case be a stadium that we love.

We cannot afford any further delays in the expansion, and a change of location is out of the question. However, I am convinced that with our decision, we will successfully complete the current approval process, meet our current needs, and can soon begin the actual stadium expansion.

This stage will certainly not be the last, as evidenced by the more than hundred-year history of our stadium. We will always strive to further develop our stadium and adapt it to our needs and wishes. Together with the state of Berlin, we will continue to explore the possibilities for this - even after the expansion that now lies ahead of us.

Now, however, we look forward to the next step with optimism and determination.

With Eiserne greetings

Dirk Zingler
President