Papp László Sportarena Budapest

Events, events, events in Budapest!

The Sportarena in Budapest is right next to Népstadion at the crossways of Kerepesi út andHungária körút. In december 1999 the Sportarena burned down which was a major tragedy because it was the only covered facility to host several thousand people for events. A French construction company rebuilt the Sportarena Budapest in 2001. Now the arena can offer 12.500 people seats plus VIP lounges for companies.
In 2006 the Budapest Sportarena hosted stars like Eric Clapton, Sting, Seal and even Rammstein. 

More facts about Budapest Sportarena

Foundation-stone laying: August 22, 2001
Opening Ceremony: March 15, 2003
Constructor: Bouygues Hungary Ltd.
Operator: Arena Operator Co. Ltd.

Arena floor: over 8,000 m2
Maximum capacity: 12,500 seats and standing
Athletics surface: 6,900 m2
Total athletics capacity: 7,000 seats

SERVICE LEVEL: Complete brand-new track and field, where the warm-up area has the same surface at the same level behind the curtain. Octagon-shaped, centrally suspended scoreboard with matrix screens on four sides will be used for the display of textual information as well as a projector on its four sides for the display of color images. 

MAIN CONCOURSE LEVEL: Changing rooms, Technical Information Centre, Copy Centre, Press Centre (490 m2). 

MEZZANINE: VIP seats and hospitality area, Press stands with about 50 TV-Radio commentary booths, 250 seats with desk and 100 seats without desk for written press. 

UPPER DECK: VIP seats and hospitality area. 

The history of Hungary – indoors 

The first international indoor athletics meeting in Hungary was held in 1982, only eight days after work was finished on the Budapest Sports arena. Hungary’s opponent was one of the dominant athletic powers at the time; the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). This meeting can be considered the source of Hungarian indoor athletic competitions. Just a year later in 1983 and also at the end of the decade in 1988 the Budapest Sport arena played home to the European Championships, while in 1989 the capital saw the second World Indoor Championships in Athletics. Over the years there were a number of famous athletics series held in Budapest, including the Tricotex Cup, the Samsung Cup and the Hungarian GP. Even though Hungary was unable to win the inaugural meet in 1982, the widely popular event presenting a new world record and many national records can be considered as a sign of what is to come in the march of 2004 at the 10th World Indoor Championships in Athletics. 

What you should know about the track…

There is much experience and know-how behind the construction of the brand new athletics track in the Budapest Sports arena. The track itself was designed by Janos Schulek whose name is a guarantee for quality in the sport. Schulek also masterminded the track in the old Arena, and is the author of the Indoor chapter in the IAAF Handbook. The construction part of the job is done by the Olympic Javelin Throw Champion from Montreal Miklos Nemeth and his company. The surface itself is a little “softer” than the widely used Mondo cover, but harder than the also well-known Konica texture. The most significant source of reference for Nemeth’s company is the Nepstadion’s (People’s stadium) new surface, which was done in time for the 1998 European Championships, but in recent years a number of tracks were renovated around the country (Nyiregyhaza, Debrecen, Kaposvar, Pecs). Originally the LOC had planned to host either this year’s national indoor championships in the new arena, or to invite a number of international stars for a permit meeting, however, the delay in the construction of the arena defied these ideas. The organizers of next year’s event will have the chance to get acquainted with the track at the end of July, at the same time when the IAAF Organizational Delegates visit the venue.