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Hungary is a rich country, stadiums are built for 1 billion euros
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According to mno.hu, Hungary’s is going to become the country of stadiums by 2020 because based on the decisions of the government, sport establishments in almost 32 locations will be built or renewed from 250 billion forint (~EUR 810m) worth public fund. Not to mention that expenses are increasing quickly along the way, without any explanation. This is the panorama of today’s Hungarian stadium-reality.
The Hungarian government is determined to bring Hungarian football to the world standard with an incredible amount of public fund that’s about to be spent on the stadiums of 32 locations until 2020. Based on available information, the investments make up for around gross 268.38 billion forints (~EUR 869m), out of which 250 billion (~EUR 810m) is from public fund. And it must be emphasized that this is the current budget, but following the trend, the sum will increase along the way.
What is this based on? Well, according to the plans, seven stadiums should be finished by the end of 2018, and the now more than gross 190 billion forint (~EUR 620m) budget Puskás Stadium is supposed to be inaugurated in 2019 as four European Championship matches will be held there in the summer of 2020. Concerning the budget, the Groupama Arena (19.51 billion forints ~ EUR 63m, 22,500 seats) and the Nagyerdei Stadium (17.1 billion forints ~ EUR 55m, 20,340 seats) could be the ideal starting point, because even experts think that the budget of these two stadiums were realistic. Besides these two, the Pancho Arena’s 3.7 billion (~EUR 12m) budget and 3,500 seats could be mentioned here. All three establishments were inaugurated in 2014. Since then, stadium constructions are characterised by such an inflation rate that even sport economists find unreasonable. Additionally, the expanses somehow always increase along the way.
Everything has become more expensive
For instance, MTK’s new stadium and the sport hall at the Lantos Mihály sporting site should’ve cost 5.65 billion forints (~EUR 18m), but even the contract of execution listed 6.31 billion (~EUR 20m), which turned out to be 8.31 billion (~EUR 27m) by the end of the construction.
Videoton’s new establishment has to match UEFA’s requirements about 8000 seats, 500 VIP seats, at least 25 photo and commentator stands, and a 105×68 m pitch. The stadium is being built in accordance with these criteria; however, the originally planned budget of 9 billion forints (~EUR 29m) is now at 18.7 billion (~EUR 61m).
The stadium of Szombathely could be built for 15.2 billion forints (~EUR 49m) instead of 9.6 billion (~EUR 31m), because the cabinet listed the difference as a unit in the 2017 budget. Vasas is also getting a new stadium, with an expandable eastern stand. Originally 7.5 billion forints (~EUR 24m) were listed in the governmental resolution, to which 5.4 billion (~EUR 17m) were added at the end of last year.
Is this media sponsored by George Soros?
Interestingly, at least for extra-curricular sports like basketball there are a limited number of places to practice & play. The result is that there are fewer teams compared to the number of kids that want to play and that results in many being benched for entire games. Over time, this will reduces the number of athletes produced, robbing the country of future competitors that would play in these arenas. Is this more effective than building a few more gyms (and just investing in our kids’ education in general)?