After Garmisch was awarded the contract to host the IV Olympic Winter Games in 1936, a new stadium had to be built for the opening ceremony.[6] This was started on March 14, 1934 by Mayor Scheck and Baron le Fort as part of the meeting on the final completion of the Great Olympic Ski Jump and the conversion and expansion of the old Gudiberg Ski Jump. It was built in the same year at the end of the Great Olympic Ski Jump within a short period of time and consisted of earthen and terraced wooden stands that offered space for 40,000 guests. By taking advantage of every possible viewing opportunity, even 60,000 people could enter the stadium.[6] The architect was Arnulf Albinger. Since the ski stadium offered more seats than the more centrally located Olympic Ice Stadium, the organizing committee recommended that the opening and closing ceremonies be held in the ski stadium instead of the ice stadium, unlike what had been usual up to that point. They also recommended using the ski stadium as the start and finish of the 18-kilometer cross-country skiing, the 50-kilometer endurance run, and the 4 × 10-kilometer relay race.
The then IOC President De Baillet-Latour described the stadium with the ski jumps as “the most beautiful winter sports facility in the world.”