PYONGYANG - Rungnado 1st of May Stadium (150,000)

[Huskies]

ok so im new to this forum , i have rad many interesting threads here , but i decided to create a user so i can ask questions to all you knowlegable people out there !

the may day stadium in pyongyang is listed everywhere as the largest stadium in the world with 150 000 seats. the thing that i find craazy is that nobody seems to question that ...

ok , since the stadium is in north korea , the most isolated country in the world , and not as far as i know home to any soccer team i can understand its not the most talked about stadium , HOWEVER a stadium that is apparently by far the biggest in the world deserves its own thread ...

ok so my question is .. does that stadium really take 150 000 people ? i mean the only pictures people post of it is from the outside , and all the pictures from the inside are on the field and not on the stands . there is a low quality photo of the stands on world stadiums and it looks nowhere near a 150 000 capacity ..

yes i understand north koreans are small and you can squeeze in alot of them on a concrete stair type of stand , but still i dont think that stadium can hold more than 100 000 ...

and on the mass games , there seem to be a big one tire stand where all the people with the signs are , but on the pic on worldstadiums it looks like a two tire configuration all the way .... can anyone explain that ?

and last but not least please post your pictures of THE INSIDE of the stadium here ( if you dont know how it looks on the outside just google it or something .... ) since westerners have been alowed in the stadium for different events , SOMEONE must have taken pictures of the stands .. i mean come on biggest stadium in the world , and most people including me dont have a clue how the stands look .... we need to change that !!!

[www.sercan.de]

Rungnado 1st of May Stadium, Pyeongyang
The May Day stadium has 150,000 seats and a total floor space of more than 207,000m2.
This makes the MAY DAY Stadium the biggest stadium in the world! It's a comprehensive athletic and cultural base where varieties of athletic activities can be held including football games. The inner stadium floor area covers 25,000m2 including 14,000m2 of which its athletic field is artificially made and 8,300m2 of lawn. Vertical axis of stadium is 450m and horizontal axis 350m.The stadium has eight storeys and is more than 60 metres high from the ground to the roof. The 60 metre long canopy is enough to cover the section of the stands. The pent of the inner roof is 60 metres long and the outer roof 40m long. The 16 arch roofs link with one another like flower petals.

The roofs look like a large flower floating on the clear water of the Taedong, or a parachute which has just landed, so it gives the impression of a dynamic sculpture. The stadium has 80 exits and ten lifts. The stadium is constructed in a parachute-shape and large slantwise semicircular arched roof made of 16 semicircular spans, covering a surface area of 94,000 m2, stretching 60m inwards and 40m outwards. 11,000 tons of structural steel was used in the roof construction alone.
The stadium was completed on May 1st, 1989.
Supreme enlarged assembly was adopted in the ceiling public business of May Day Stadium. The method won gold prize in the 16th International Invention and New Technology Exhibition held in Geneva, Switzerland in April 1988.

The stadium has various training halls, recreation rooms, an indoor swimming pool, an ultrasonic bat, a
sauna, beds and so on, which are indispensable for the players training and convenience. It also has
dining rooms, and a broadcasting room and telex booths. The rubberised indoor running track is several
hundred metres long and is on the sixth floor.

Outside of the stadium, there are auxiliary stadiums covering 22,000m2 of which consists of football fields and artificially made athletic fields being besides the main stadium, and 3 special football training fields covering 11,000m2.

[odlum833]

Originally Posted by www.sercan.de

I persume that aint the opening of an olympic games.....the stadium - one would have to persume - is primarily used to "celebrate" the despot in charge.

[www.sercan.de]

by
d_bertrand

image hosted on flickr

bigger one
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_bertr...70400/sizes/o/

image hosted on flickr

bigger one
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_bertr...73164/sizes/o/

[www.sercan.de]

I've counted
1st tier: 58 rows (22 green and 36 orange one)
2nd tier: 31 rows (maybe 32)

So total 89-90 rows.

Bukit Jalil has got 74-75 rows
Berlin 73 rows

[Benn]

So realistically its not too much over 100,000, maybe towards 120,000, but certainly not 150,000

[Welshlad]

Originally Posted by Huskies

yes i understand north koreans are small and you can squeeze in alot of them on a concrete stair type of stand

I love this! haha

I am also intrigued by the one tier stand shown in some pics as it does seem like it would be 2 tiers all the way around.

[Huskies]

Originally Posted by www.sercan.de

by
d_bertrand

image hosted on flickr

bigger one
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_bertr...70400/sizes/o/

image hosted on flickr

bigger one
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_bertr...73164/sizes/o/

wow THANK YOU sercan those pictures are great where did you find them ? do you have anymore ? you see this is what im talking about i had no idea the stadium even had seats , i thought it was just rows of concrete bench ...
the earlier pics where the typical google pics... i mean it does look impressive , but i mean 150 000 ? i mean the bristol speedway takes 165 000 and is HUUUUUGE compared to may day stadium .... and i no stadium capacity is tricky , since alot of stadiums look like they take more people than they do , and the other way around ...

i can see the may day stadium being slightly larger than bukit jalil and azteca , and maybe have a capacity of 110 000 .. but 150 000 !?!?!!? seriously this stadium having 60 000 more seats than fed ex field or wembley ? i dont think so ...

do you have anymore pictures of the interior of the stadium ? like one on the grandstand opposite of kim jong ils seat , where all the people with the signs sit on the mass games ? it would be nice to see what it looks like without people on it... a panoramic of the inside of the stadium would also be nice , but that might be to much to ask for .....

[skaP187]

Nice thread, good idea, This stadium does deserve it´s own thread.
Good opening too. I think it can take 150 000. That first tier is huge, but realy huge. The secon tier is about half of that, so that´s just huge, but has the cheap tiny seats. I think the second ring can atleast hold as much is the first, also because it´s longer.

[Huskies]

Originally Posted by skaP187

Nice thread, good idea, This stadium does deserve it´s own thread.
Good opening too. I think it can take 150 000. That first tier is huge, but realy huge. The secon tier is about half of that, so that´s just huge, but has the cheap tiny seats. I think the second ring can atleast hold as much is the first, also because it´s longer.

yeah , the information black hole about this stadium is what made me create a user here , so i can disscus it with people who know stadiums ...

interesting thought there , but lets assume that you re right with both tires having about the same capacity , 150 000 / 2 = 75 000 for each tire ...

by looking at the pictures , i dont think the lower tire is big enough to take 75 000 people .... and i mean thats like entire old trafford on one tire ...

still waiting for pics on the mysterious grandstand though , hopefully they wil show up ..

[wearethefuture]

image hosted on flickr

flickr; Eric Lafforgue

1image hosted on flickr
2image hosted on flickr

1.flickr; yeowatzup 2.flickr; minifastcar33

1image hosted on flickr
2image hosted on flickr

1+2.flickr; Lucaskt

1image hosted on flickr
2image hosted on flickr

1.flickr; Pricey 2.flickr; Lucaskt

1image hosted on flickr
2image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

flickr; apathseeker

[Ganis]

HAHAHA. They are performing and no one is watching. Thats North Korea for you!

No way this is over 100,000 in my opinion.

[parcdesprinces]

of course it has 150,000 seats (all-seater), take a look at the history of this stadium and you will understand why it is the biggest one in the world !!

Again, and this is begin to be boring, some Americans are doubting simply because this stadium is bigger than any ones in their home country, pity !

[Ganis]

wow. All the events are nothing but lousy propaganda concerts that everyone is forced to go to.

[Epi]

Most of those seats don't have armrests, and in one of the pics above, there's not even any backs. They can squish people in like no other, I totally think it's possible. Also the 150,000 may also reflect the people in the grandstands (holding the moving picture signs) and I think they're a lot of them cause I think they're supposed to be all kids.

[parcdesprinces]

Originally Posted by Ganis

wow. All the events are nothing but lousy propaganda concerts that everyone is forced to go to.

Originally Posted by Ganis

HAHAHA. They are performing and no one is watching. Thats North Korea for you!

The best attendance of this stadium was 190,000 (in 1995) for the New Japan Pro Wrestling and the World Championship Wrestling (an American fed as far I know) !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Epi

Most of those seats don't have armrests

like in almost all stadiums in the world !!!

[westsidebomber]

Originally Posted by parcdesprinces

of course it has 150,000 seats (all-seater), take a look at the history of this stadium and you will understand why it is the biggest one in the world !!

Again, and this is begin to be boring, some Americans are doubting simply because this stadium is bigger than any ones in their home country, pity !

Huh? What do Americans have to do with the capacity of this stadium???

I am also intrigued by the "perfect" number of 150,000. I highly doubt that is the real capacity.

[parcdesprinces]

Originally Posted by westsidebomber

I am also intrigued by the "perfect" number of 150,000. I highly doubt that is the real capacity.

I agree with that.
It is just like Stade de France with it's perfect 80,000 seats which are 81,338 in reality.

[Ganis]

its all lies.

[pompeyfan]

Originally Posted by westsidebomber

Huh? What do Americans have to do with the capacity of this stadium???

I am also intrigued by the "perfect" number of 150,000. I highly doubt that is the real capacity.

That is a lot more common than you think. When a stadium has a capacity of xxxxx people, that is often simply an approximation, a rounded figure. Suncorp Stadium for example, in Brisbane, is said to have 52,500 seats, but in reality, there is 52,442 or such seats. It is merely a more convenient way of presenting the data.

Secondly, 150,000 is a relatively reasonable figure for a round stadium the size of MD Stadium. For comparison, i present a relatively similar sized and shaped stadium, the MCG



That there is a capacity of 100,000. It has 71 rows, while May Day has 90. May Day has stands much further away from the pitch than MCG, and May Day, from what i have seen has less seating room, meaning far more people are seated in the May Day's outer sections than at say the MCG. 150,000 capacity is far from unrealistic.