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Arena Market: Hungary

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Covid, inflation, nearby war, and ongoing tensions with the EU have all worked their way into Hungarian life, but none of these appear to be any match for the pent-up demand that continues to drive the market a year after reopening.

Budapest even has a new arena in the 22,000-capacity MVM Dome, Europe’s largest dedicated handball venue. Owned by the city of Budapest, the new facility – also a basketball, tennis, ice skating, even equestrian and motorcycle-racing venue – opened in December 2021 and has kicked into gear on the concert front in 2023, having already welcomed Michael Bublé, Plácido Domingo, $uicideboy$, Roger Waters, and theMötley Crüe/Def Leppard double-bill.

Owned by the city of Budapest, the new facility opened in December 2021 and has kicked into gear on the concert front in 2023, having already welcomed Michael Bublé, Plácido Domingo, $uicideboy$, Roger Waters, and theMötley Crüe/Def Leppard double-bill.

Among the venue’s attractions is a 14M pixel, 12-tonne, LED,centrehung CUBE scoreboard and, on the façade, a 535 sq m LED video wall thought to be the largest in the region.

Meanwhile, the country’s established capital-city arena, the László Papp Budapest Sportaréna, which opened in 2003, has also successfully tapped into the international tours sweeping the region. Måneskin, Diana Krall, Pentatonix, Bring Me The Horizon, and Hans Zimmer came through in May and early June; visitors in the earlier part of the year included Eros Ramazzottiand Robbie Williams – but also, in a trend that developed during the tour-starved Covid years, local stars including Azariah, Rúzsa Magdolna, and Kowalsky Meg A Vega.“Even though we were worried about extremely high inflation and people reducing their spending on live entertainment, we are happy to report dozens of sold-out events and a total of 240,000 audience members for the first four months of this year,” says Tibor Lak, the arena’s manager and finance manager.

“Even though we were worried about extremely high inflation and people reducing their spending on live entertainment, we are happy to report dozens of sold-out events and a total of 240,000 audience members for the first four months of this year”

 

“Fortunately, international stars and local bands are both selling well. Of course, there was never any question that the Robbie Williams concert would be sold out, but one of the biggest shows was performed by 21-year-old local starAzahriah, who had his first arena concert in March.”

In the immediate future, the László Papp Arena must extend its long-term venue operation contract with the state, which currently concludes at the end of 2025. In the meantime, and in spite of outside disturbances, business looks good.

“The most popular periods of the year – February to May and October to December – are almost full for 2024, and we are in continuous negotiations with promoters to find the highest occupancy level with the best event mix,” says Lak.

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