[K-pop's Homeland Lacks a Performance Dome] Filling 70,000 Seats Overseas... But No 50,000-Seat 'Performance Dome' in Korea

① 54% of Korean popular music ticket sales

Generated from ultra-large stages with 10,000+ seats

Lack of infrastructure to handle world tour demand

"Need a hub to prevent leakage of profits and tourism spending"

While K-pop fills venues of 50,000 to 70,000 seats overseas, Korea—the homeland of the genre—lacks a 50,000-seat performance dome to accommodate them. As a result, domestic artists are forced to bounce between soccer stadiums and gymnasiums with capacities of 15,000. This is why President Lee Jae-myung recently mentioned during a cabinet meeting that "a large-scale venue of around 50,000 seats is necessary," noting that the currently planned 20,000 to 30,000-seat venues are "too small" and that "a national symbolic performance venue is needed."

In response, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young stated that the location for the venue would be determined in consultation with the new local governments after the local elections. However, some in the performance industry point out that the construction of a 50,000-seat performance dome should be approached separately from the expansion of 20,000 to 30,000-seat arenas intended for balanced regional cultural development.

Of course, music-specialized venues of 20,000 to 30,000 seats are necessary. They are core infrastructure for stabilizing the regional performance market and accommodating mid-to-large scale idol tours or visits by overseas pop stars. However, the facility mentioned by the President is a higher-level concept: a national-grade performance dome of around 50,000 seats. If a 20,000-seat arena is the "waist" that supports the performance industry ecosystem, a 50,000-seat dome is the "ceiling" that attracts the world's top-tier artists. The two facilities differ in role and purpose.

An official from Amuse, a large Japanese entertainment company, said, "Arenas of around 20,000 seats and domes/stadiums of around 50,000 seats have completely different characteristics and cannot replace each other." He added, "Arenas are scattered across major cities and are often used as tour venues where artists meet fans nationwide, while domes and stadiums serve as festival sites where fans from all over the country gather, such as on the final day of a tour or for anniversaries."

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is also aware of the shortage of large venues. In last year's business report, it presented plans for both the construction of a 50,000-seat dome and the expansion of arenas in Seoul and Goyang, while also considering short-term measures to reinforce the sound and lighting of local sports facilities. However, the bottleneck experienced by top-tier K-pop performances cannot be solved simply by adding speakers and lights. Comprehensive industrial infrastructure is required, including traffic flow to accommodate and control 50,000 spectators, a roof to block weather and noise, systems for bringing in large-scale stage equipment, backstage structures, and a wide-area transportation network to support late-night returns. Building a 50,000-seat performance dome is not just about expanding cultural facilities; it is a matter of competitiveness to attract global entertainment capital to Korea.

Half of popular music revenue generated in venues with 10,000+ seats

According to the '2025 Performance Market Ticket Sales Status Analysis' by the Korea Performing Arts Box Office Information System (KOPIS) of the Korea Arts Management Service, there were 4,677 popular music performances held over 7,749 sessions last year. Ticket reservations totaled 7,642,999 tickets, with total sales amounting to 981.72286 billion won. Compared to the previous year, the number of performances increased by 17%, sessions by 17.6%, ticket reservations by 19.9%, and sales by 29%.

The added value created by large venues was particularly prominent. In 2025, popular music performances held in venues with 10,000 or more seats recorded 3,575,433 ticket reservations and 530.08731 billion won in sales. This accounts for 46.8% of all popular music ticket reservations and 54% of total sales. In other words, more than half of the capital in the popular music market was generated in large venues.

The growth rate is also steep. Performances with 10,000+ seats increased more than tenfold, from 14 cases (44 sessions) in 2021 to 157 cases (359 sessions) in 2025. During the same period, ticket sales expanded approximately 27-fold, from 19.4 billion won to 530.1 billion won. Although the number of performances is small, they have become a core pillar in terms of market size. This shows that the center of the popular music market has shifted from small-to-medium venues to stadium-level performances.

In fact, popular music ticket sales reached their annual peaks in July (110.1 billion won) and December (130.4 billion won) last year. This is due to the concentration of demand for large outdoor summer performances and year-end concerts. Large-scale performances have now moved beyond specific fandom-centered events to become the key driver leading the entire Korean popular music industry.

K-pop artists filling 50,000-seat stages overseas

The mobilizing power of K-pop artists has already been proven in overseas markets. BTS drew 120,000 people over two days at Wembley Stadium in the UK in 2019. In 2021, they sold 214,000 tickets across four performances at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, USA, generating approximately $33.3 million (about 50 billion won) in revenue. In a recent North American tour, they mobilized about 840,000 people across 15 performances in five cities.

Blackpink performed at the Tokyo Dome (55,000 capacity) in 2019, and in 2023, they took the stage at the Stade de France, Europe's top stadium with a capacity of 60,000. Twice became the first overseas female artist in 2024 to mobilize 140,000 people over two days at Nissan Stadium, Japan's largest venue with a capacity of 70,000.

Overseas dome and stadium tours have now become routine for K-pop. Seventeen mobilized 144,000 people through two performances at Nissan Stadium in Japan and 435,000 people through nine performances during a Japanese dome tour (Nagoya, Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka). Stray Kids drew 315,000 people through six performances at the Tokyo Dome and Kyocera Dome, and 220,000 people through four Japanese stadium performances the following year.

50,000-seat venues are not the exclusive domain of only the top-tier artists. Mid-to-high tier artists such as aespa (94,000 at Tokyo Dome), G-Dragon (80,000 at Tokyo Dome), NCT (220,000 at Japanese stadiums), and ENHYPEN (400,000 across four Japanese cities) are also actively utilizing infrastructure of 50,000+ seats during their world tours.

Domestic demand has also been verified. IU and Lim Young-woong each sold out solo concerts for 100,000 people over two days at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. The market has grown to a point where not only idol groups but also solo singers and trot singers can mobilize 50,000 people a day. However, large-scale domestic performances still rely on renting sports facilities rather than music-dedicated domes.

K-pop capital earned overseas must be linked to the domestic ecosystem

A 50,000-seat performance dome is not just a symbolic facility. It is the foundation for absorbing K-pop capital grown in the global market back into Korea. While Korean artists generate massive profits by filling the Tokyo Dome and Wembley, domestic agencies are still setting up temporary stages amidst competition for gymnasium rentals and controversies over the damage to soccer field grass.

The core of the discussion on venue infrastructure is not simply the number of seats, but rather what market capital will be drawn into the country. While a 20,000-seat arena thickens the industrial ecosystem by increasing the frequency of mid-to-large scale performances, a 50,000-seat performance dome serves to anchor the peak mega-events of world tours in Korea.

Omitted

https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/277/0005770048?sid=103

Source: https://theqoo.net/hot/4225204840