Despite backing out of the 2024 Olympics race, Hungary pumps in $250mn for 20 stadium projects

Article posted by Coliseum, February 28^th, 2017

While Hungary opened three new stadiums in 2014, this year stadium construction in the country received a big boost with 22 major projects lined up for commencement of progress. The government has announced its plans to spend 67.144 billion forints ($250 million) for the projects.

Although the Hungarian capital Budapest has withdrawn from the race for hosting the 2024 Olympics, the stadium projects including the new National Stadium will go ahead as per schedule.

More insights on these stadium projects will be presented at Coliseum Summit EUROPE, March 29-30, 2017 at Budapest, Hungary. Balázs Furjes, Government Commissioner for Major Budapest Developments, is among the distinguished speakers at the conference. He will offer details about the future sports venues plans and developments in Hungary.

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The Hungarian government’s plan goes along with its promises from a couple of years back. It is also in sync with the national program of sports infrastructure upgrade. The scheme aims at significantly improving or completely rebuilding all stadiums of top two leagues in the country.

2014 brought the first results of this project as three new stadiums were opened in Budapest, Debrecen and Felcsut. The first two were built with in nearly record time at a very efficient cost, while the third is Hungary’s new national stadium for youth teams.

This year the governmental program will include 22 stadiums across the country. Annual budget for the projects is set at 67.144 billion forints for 2015.

The current wave of stadium reconstructions started under the second prime ministership of Orbán Viktor, reports Daily News Hungary. What really boosted the process was the possibility to support public benefit organisations (such as theaters or sort clubs) with the corporate income tax, according to the daily.

The table below shows how the money is to be distributed among participating cities of league one (NB I) and two (NB II).

Stadium/City	League	Amount (in forints)
Nemzeti Sportközpont / Budapest	national	44.272 billion
Rohonci úti Stadion / Szombathely	NB I	4.974 billion
Sóstói Stadion / Székesfehérvár	NB I	4.5 billion
Diósgyóri Stadion / Miszkolc	NB I	2.75 billion
Dunaferr Arena / Dunajvaros	NB I	2.6 billion
Bozsik Stadion / Budapest	NB I	2.1 billion
Stadion Várkerti / Kisvarda	NB II	800 million
ZTE Arena / Zalaegerszeg	NB II	750 million
Stadion Kórház utcai / Békéscsaba	NB II	565 million
Rákóczi Stadion / Káposvar	NB II	501 million
Városi Stadion / Nyíregyháza	NB I	500 million
Illoszky József Stadion / Budapest	NB II	500 million
PMFC Stadion / Pécs	NB I	500 million
ETO Park / Gyór	NB I	240 million
Szusza Ferenc Stadion / Budapest	NB I	240 million
Széktói Stadion / Kecskemét	NB I	240 million
Fehérvári úti stadion / Paks	NB I	4240 million
Perutz Stadion / Pápa	NB I	240 million
Városi stadion / Mezőkövesd	NB II	180 million
Káposztás utcai Stadion / Sopron	NB II	150 million