Top 100 Biggest Sports Venues in the World

Who says size doesn’t matter? In 1950 at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, just a tick under 200,000 people piled into Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. They watched the home team fall to Uruguay in the decisive match of the tournament. That remains the largest attendance for a team sports game.

Since then, stadiums have made many renovations that prevent capacities from ever reaching those numbers. But that doesn’t mean sports venues — not stadiums — can’t surpass that total. Most of those venues are of the racing variety, either motor racing circuits or horse racing tracks.

Some of them were built in the 2000s. Others were constructed over 100 years ago. These are the largest sports venues in the world by capacity. 

Capacity: 80,000

Location: Beijing, China

Sports played: Soccer, motor racing, athletics

Tenants: 2008 Summer Olympics, China national football team

Bottom line: Nicknamed the Bird’s Nest for its appearance, this stadium was created specifically for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It gets used sparingly because there’s no Chinese team that calls Beijing National Stadium home.

But it will host the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2022 Winter Olympics, making it the only stadium to host both Summer and Winter Olympic opening ceremonies.

Capacity: 80,000

Location: Arlington, Texas

Sports played: Football

Tenants: Dallas Cowboys

Bottom line: Originally called Cowboys Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys has been affectionately known as Jerry’s World since Jerry Jones treats it like his third son.

In 2013, it was renamed to AT&T Stadium courtesy of a naming rights deal in which Jones pockets between $17 million and $19 million annually.

In 2016, the stadium hosted WrestleMania 32 before 101,763 fans, which remains the attendance record for AT&T Stadium.

Capacity: 80,000

Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sports played: Horse racing

Tenants: GP Brazil

Bottom line: Built in 1926, this hippodrome was popular in the 20th century but isn’t used as often today.

While it holds 80,000, there are only 3,000 seats and certainly not 3,000 good seats, according to those who’ve attended horse races there.

The declining popularity of this venue mitigates that as attendees are able to move around and locate better seats for the races.

Capacity: 80,000

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Sports played: Motor racing

Tenants: Australian Grand Prix

Bottom line: For three months of the year, this track is used for events by Formula One and Supercars Championship.

But the other nine months of the year, this circuit is just a regular street that anyone can drive on.

Not just people pass on this road, either. Some notorious black swans frequently cross and cause traffic delays for drivers.