The activities of Logroño Deporte, which offered 21,647 places in ongoing sports activities, generated 3.6 million sports accesses in its facilities in 2024, thus «recovering figures from before the pandemic». This is stated in the activity report of the entity in the past year, which was presented this Friday by the president of Logroño Deporte, Francisco Iglesias, accompanied by the manager of this entity, Pablo Santaolalla.
Iglesias emphasized that «we are aware of how physical exercise influences the health and well-being of our neighbors, and therefore, we work on the continuous improvement of the service provided by Logroño Deporte and on increasingly personalized attention to the citizen.»
Between subscribers and users, «the total number of people who accessed the services of Logroño Deporte in 2024 was 55,406, more than a third of the population of Logroño, specifically 36.39%. In 2024, the profile of the subscriber is that of a woman aged 41 to 50, as although men under 30 are the ones who exercise the most, from 31 years old onwards, women make up the majority of subscribers and users.»
With 35 municipal sports facilities, Iglesias reiterated that «we are the city with the best sports facility ratio, with a municipal facility less than ten minutes’ walk from the home of any resident of Logroño.»
Regarding usage statistics, «during the past year, the facilities were open for a total of 63,067 hours, hosting a total of 3,628,902 sports accesses, with the most used being the Pradoviejo Football City (632,805 uses), CDM Lobete (447,399 uses), or CDM Las Norias (356,858 uses).
As for the improvement and maintenance of the different facilities, Iglesias stressed that «in 2024, we carried out significant and necessary investments to ensure that everything functions correctly, with an investment of 107,881.24 euros.»
The councilor also mentioned that «the Logroño City Council carried out the renovation works of the El Salvador football field last summer in the Yagüe neighborhood, at a cost of 271,584.50 euros, installing a state-of-the-art turf system.»
6 MILLION EUROS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF FACILITIES.
In this regard, looking towards the future, the councilor explained that in 2024, «an agreement was reached between the Government of La Rioja and the City Council for a historic investment of 5 million euros to improve various sports infrastructures in the capital of La Rioja, an amount that will be complemented by an additional million euros from the City Council.»
With this investment, the councilor detailed, «the facilities of Mundial 82 will be improved, the surface of two fields in Pradoviejo, 3 and 4, which are most deteriorated, will be replaced, as well as the fields located in the La Estrella and La Ribera neighborhoods.»
Additionally, «improvements in envelope, energy efficiency, and air conditioning will be carried out at the Lobete Municipal Sports Center, allowing for the optimization of the use of the facilities: ice rink, municipal pool, and spa.»
SPORTS PROGRAM, EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL.
Every year, through Logroño Deporte, «we launch the municipal sports program, ensuring equal opportunities for Logroño residents in terms of access and covering the widest possible population spectrum,» the councilor recalled.
In 2024, «the program reached 21,647 places, representing an increase of 3,560 places, 16% more than in the previous year,» Iglesias noted. The places were distributed into 12,087 places in the seasonal program, 5,600 places offered for school campaigns, and 3,960 places in the summer program.
The councilor referred to the occupancy data, highlighting «the enormous success of the occupied places in school campaigns, which increased by 148.30%.» The occupancy of seasonal and summer places also increased by 75.25%.
The sports program of 2024 «had 128 instructors responsible for the different sports activities, 6 more professionals than in the previous edition.» Last year, Logroño Deporte generated a total of 431 jobs.
MANAGEMENT PLAN, LONG-TERM FUTURE.
Looking ahead for this entity, «this year, for the first time in its history, the municipal entity will have a management plan – whose bidding was approved in November 2024 – focusing on financial sustainability, environmental management, internal organization, labor aspects, sports and management project, and the transformation of its public positioning,» the councilor reported.
During the past year, the municipal sports entity signed various agreements with reference teams within the sports aid program, totaling 1.4 million euros.
Regarding support for inclusive sports, the councilor continued, «in December, three lines of financial aid were approved, for teams participating in national leagues but not considered reference teams, another for events, and another exclusively for sports and disabilities.»
In particular, Logroño Deporte allocated 26,241 euros last year to events or sports activities for people with disabilities, «with the aim of reaffirming our unconditional support for these entities and recognizing the important work they carry out in local grassroots sports,» expressed Iglesias.
Through this amount, a total of 8 entities were funded for the development of 14 activities. The grants were allocated to ASPACE RIOJA, Club ARFES-Rioja, Mental Health Association La Rioja, Club Deportivo Envero, Multiple Sclerosis Rioja Association, ARSIDO, FEAPS-RIOJA, and FERDIS.
Additionally, Iglesias added, «in Logroño Deporte courses, we have a section dedicated exclusively to people with disabilities.» Thus, he pointed out, «600 places in the sports program were allocated to people with disabilities, improving and renewing the offer; so, to the already successful gymnastics, swimming, and sports such as futsal and basketball, new activities for this group were added last year, such as Dance Kids or wheelchair paddle.»
LOGROÑO AS A CITY OF SPORTING EVENTS.
Important sports events were held in the city last year, such as the Tour of Spain cycling race or La Rioja Bike Race.
In this regard, Iglesias highlighted the organization for this year of «the Frisbee World Championship in June, which will bring together 1,400 athletes from around the world in our city.»
Thus, he pointed out, «sports are a huge asset of the Logroño brand that we want to project nationally and internationally.»
In this sense, «every weekend, our city hosts sports events that make Logroño a tourist attraction around wine and gastronomy, city experience, enjoyment on the streets, cultural and commercial Logroño; our goal is to continue working to position Logroño as a city of sports events,» he concluded.
