The stadium was built as a response to the need for a grass pitch for the Norway national football team, as well as to serve as a home to Ready and Mercantile SFK.

[1] The Football Association of Norway took initiative in 1911 to study the possibility for a grass field and conducted visits to Idrætsparken in Copenhagen and Stockholm Olympic Stadium to investigate how the neighboring capitals had resolved the issue.

[2] The main concern was that a grass field located in the Norwegian climate would not survive the winter.

[3] The initiative to build a grass field at Holmen came from M. W. Aas, who had visited Vienna in 1915 and had observed the possibilities created there.

To construct the venue the limited company A/S Græsbanen was incorporated on 3 April 1916 with a share capital of 42,000 Norwegian krone (NOK).

As the first grass field in the capital, Gressbanen was also selected as the home venue of the national team.

[6] Construction was supported financially by among others NFF president Daniel Eie and director Johan Throne Holst.

The lot, at the time in Aker, was owned by shipowner Olaf Ditlev-Simonsen and donated the land to the company.

[6] NFF remained a tenant at Gressbanen until 1926, when it moved its games to the newly constructed Ullevaal Stadion, which also served as the home of Lyn.

Thus Gressbanen was the third bandy field in Oslo to receive artificial ice and the eleventh overall in Norway.

[14] Gressbanen consists of two playing fields and is located in the Holmen neighborhood of Vestre Aker in Oslo.