The National Stadium (now MUFG Stadium), built for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, has its management back on track. Sales for fiscal year 2025 came to ¥2.25 billion, beating the target of ¥1.7 billion. Koji Takeuchi, president of the operating company, explained that boosting the facility’s utilization rate was what drove the higher revenue, with the FY2025 utilization rate reaching 47% (171 days). On 5ch, opinions were split over whether that figure was being padded by free invitation tickets, and over how to balance the stadium’s original role as a track-and-field venue with commercial use for J.League matches, concerts, and the like.
MUFG Stadium (National Stadium), built for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Management of the large-scale facility, whose profitability some initially doubted, has gotten back on track. FY2025 sales came to ¥2.25 billion, clearing the ¥1.7 billion target. Koji Takeuchi (61), who became president of operator Japan National Stadium Entertainment last year, says with pride, “We raised revenue by thoroughly boosting utilization.”
Takeuchi previously handled public relations for the Seibu Lions pro baseball team and Japan’s national baseball team “Samurai Japan,” and also has experience managing Seibu Dome and Yokohama Arena. Drawing on his perspective as both an event organizer and a venue manager, he has aimed for “optimizing the whole,” and the stadium’s FY2025 utilization rate reached 47% (171 days).
Can it shake off its “negative legacy”? The privatized National Stadium
Aren't they just handing out free invites by the ten-thousands, even for J2 (Japan's second-tier soccer league) matches?
4AnonymousSep 26, 2026 07:54
Re: #3 Even with free invites, the facility usage fee still isn't waived, is it?
13AnonymousSep 26, 2026 08:10
Re: #3 Still impressive it fills up even for second-division matches. The Hiroshima "Zombies" (a mocking nickname for a struggling local team) should hand out free tickets by the ten-thousands too — or do they already, and it's still empty?
5AnonymousSep 26, 2026 07:55
It's just about whether it's being used or not — with or without free invites, it still counts as utilization.
6AnonymousSep 26, 2026 07:56
So it's a scheme of the tax-subsidized league dumping free tickets and hijacking home games away from each team's own stadium?
7AnonymousSep 26, 2026 07:57
Good thing they didn't convert it into a ball-sports-only venue.
9AnonymousSep 26, 2026 07:58
Having the running track means it can be used for concerts too.
10AnonymousSep 26, 2026 08:05
Re: #4 Performing here adds prestige for celebrities too, so they hand out tons of invite tickets to fill the seats.
14AnonymousSep 26, 2026 08:11
Before it was privatized, only a handful of top-tier artists could hold concerts here, but since then even acts like Sakurazaka46 or =LOVE (idol groups) can play. You can't deny it feels like a step down — there was also that VIP-area ruckus at the Mrs. GREEN APPLE show.
20AnonymousSep 26, 2026 08:26
That said, with a 10,000-capacity arena hosting 7 shows, most of that could just be diehard otaku (obsessive fans) going multiple times. But filling the National Stadium with 70,000 people actually takes 70,000 real fans — if there's any value here, that's it.
40AnonymousSep 26, 2026 08:49
Re: #20 That's exactly what sponsor giveaway tickets are for.
24AnonymousSep 26, 2026 08:32
Hosting J.League home games — of which there are only 19 all season — at the National Stadium. So much for 'community-rooted.'
25AnonymousSep 26, 2026 08:35
Re: #24 Oh, so you're completely dismissing pro baseball's regional exhibition games? Or are you just making excuses about the match count?
26AnonymousSep 26, 2026 08:37
Why not let the Imperial Palace joggers (people who run laps around the Imperial Palace) use it, and charge them a bit?
38AnonymousSep 26, 2026 08:48
Re: #26 Actually, they're holding a relay marathon there today.
47AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:09
But without a track, you can't run trolleys or moving stages during concerts, you know. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HGtrhOIbUAEukrH.jpg
53AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:19
Re: #1 Added value is great and all, but please don't neglect its original purpose — actual track-and-field usage.
56AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:20
Re: #53 Exactly. What's even the point of calling it a track-and-field stadium then?
59AnonymousSep 26, 2026 09:41
There's already the massive soccer-only Saitama Stadium, yet the J.League still insists on playing at the National Stadium.
81AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:00
Re: #59 Can't help it — more fans show up at the track-and-field stadium.
63AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:04
171 days of use for ¥2.2 billion sounds cheaper than I expected. Feels like something you'd rent out for corporate sports days, but who knows.
74AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:29
Re: #63 Not too long ago, corporate sports days were actually the biggest users. No idea now. I'd guess the main revenue is stadium signage ads rather than usage fees.
65AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:16
Re: #13 The Carp (Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team) pull in 30,000 unless it's a weekday, so they don't need to go that far.
77AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:40
Re: #65 Soccer attendance counts actual people who walked in, but pro baseball counts tickets sold. Pro baseball even counts season-ticket seats with nobody sitting in them.
66AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:21
Soccer's the one cleaning up the mess here. They should just make it a ball-sports-only stadium eventually.
80AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:59
Re: #66 Even making it ball-sports-only wouldn't help — it was a crappy stadium to begin with.
71AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:26
They should've made it ball-sports-only from the start — no need to cater to a money-losing minor sport like track and field.
73AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:28
Re: #71 What's your basis for saying it'd turn a profit if it went ball-sports-only?
72AnonymousSep 26, 2026 10:28
So being in the black means no tax money is being poured in?
84AnonymousSep 26, 2026 11:08
Re: #72 The naming-rights revenue is probably pretty substantial too.
Background and points of debate
The National Stadium was rebuilt for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and given its enormous construction cost and heavy post-Games upkeep, it’s long been dubbed a “negative legacy.” The current operator, Japan National Stadium Entertainment, is a private company that took over management from the Japan Sport Council, and has pursued a strategy of raising utilization while keeping the running track intact. In the thread, opinions clashed between those suspicious the utilization figures are inflated by free invitation tickets, and those arguing that facility fees and ad revenue still apply regardless, so it’s genuine use either way. The track’s presence also keeps alive a design debate dating back to the stadium’s construction: it preserves the venue’s original athletic purpose, but critics keep pushing for it to be converted into a dedicated ball-sports stadium.
Leave a Reply