Hungarian government confirmed the new national sports complex will consume more funds, but will still be very good value for money. The 65,000-capacity stadium should cost €325 million.

Along the initial estimates from 2012, the new national stadium and sporting centre in Budapest was to cost 70-90 billion forints (€245m / $305m). Now government commissioner Laszlo Vigh confirmed the number is slightly higher, though still not final.

“We targeted the price of the stadium to total 3-4,000 euros per seat, so in the current phase of planning, the total price is estimated at 90-100 billion forints,” he told commercial channel Sport TV. As a matter of comparison, he said the cost of Espanyol’s stadium opened in 2009 was only 1,450 euros per seat but Wembley and the Warsaw stadium cost around 11,000 euros per seat.

The comparison puts Hungarian new national stadium significantly below its equivalents in England and Poland. In reality, all three comparison figures given by Vigh seem well off the mark. Espanyol’s new stadium cost €2,000 per seat. In the case of Wembley the number is €12,400 per seat according to 2007 budget, while in Poland the price was lower, at €8,000.

In line with current plans, the new stadium will have a capacity of 65,000 and the surrounding complex will have facilities to cater for 21 different types of sporting activities.