National Sports Stadium (Mongolia)

National Sports Stadium hosting Naadam with the main seating area in view

National Sports Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and has a capacity 20,000. The Naadam festival, which celebrates Mongolian independence, is held there every July.

The stadium was established in 1958 by Russian construction in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Since then, it has not been majorly renovated at any point, although it gets a little painting and touch up once a year. Even though the stadium was built for multi-use such as football, festivals, and etc, the only mandatory event is the Naadam festival held on July 11 of each year which commemorates the independence day of 1921. Other events are usually held under a contract except ones that are organized by the government.

The stadium is part private owned and part government owned, with a 51%/49% split. The reason for its split ownership is that there is only one stadium that can hold 20,000 people in Mongolia. If the stadium was wholly private the government would have to fund the entire Naadam festive, 70% of the costs of which are taken from ticket sales and the leasing of surrounding land.

Currently, the land owned by the stadium company is about 27 hectares, of which the stadium itself takes about 8 hectares of land.

Coordinates: 47°54′7.7″N 106°54′58.5″E / 47.902139°N 106.91625°E / 47.902139; 106.91625