The 7 Biggest Stadiums In the World

It's all about communism and football.

Seating: 114,000

In perhaps the strangest turn of events, the largest stadium in the world resides in North Korea—not exactly a hotbed for athletics. Opened in 1989—on May 1, as you may have guessed—the stadium was designed to mimic a magnolia blossom with its 16 arches across the roof.

While Rungrado, also known as May Day Stadium, hosts soccer, it also puts on events like the Arirang Festival, which included 100,000 participants, and celebrations of North Korean leaders.

Seating: 107, 601

As is the case with most major college football venues in the U.S., Michigan Stadium on the campus of the University of Michigan has changed in capacity over its lifetime.

First constructed in 1927 with 72,000 seats, the early plans envisioned a 150,000-seat venue, so original construction included the ability to expand beyond 100,000. Mimicking the Yale Bowl design, The Big House eventually ballooned to a capacity of more than 109,000 seats. Then a recent remodel brought it back down to 107,601.

Seating: 106,572

Opened in 1960 using portions of a 1909 stadium that was dismantled and moved to the current site on the campus of Penn State University, the original 1960 horseshoe design of 46,000 seats has seen a major expansion over the years.

A 2001 renovation to Beaver Stadium—named in honor of a lawyer who fought for the Union Army in the Civil War and became governor of Pennsylvania—added the final 12,000 seats, bumping capacity to 106,572 and giving the venue 100 rows on the east side, 100 rows on the west, 60 in the lower end zones, 35 in the north upper deck, 20 in the club seating level, and 25 in the south upper deck.

Seating: 104,944

The fourth largest stadium in the world is the third largest in the Big 10 Conference, but Ohio Stadium doesn't take a back seat when it comes to historical significance. Dubbed The Horseshoe, the Howard Dwight Smith-designed structure on the banks of the Olentangy River originally opened in 1922 with over 66,000 seats and multiple decks.

The legendary football design gave Ohio State University a classic style, but over time that style has filled in with seats, officially enclosing the shoe in 2001 by making temporary seats permanent and boosting capacity to just shy of 105,000.

Seating: 102,733

While still an impressive 82,000-seat venue for much of its life, a major redevelopment for the 2014 season at Texas A&M University boosted Kyle Field's capacity to one of the largest in the world at 102,733.

Originally opened in 1904 after horticulture professor E.J. Kyle purchased a covered grandstand and cordoned off an agricultural field, the structure took on new life as a stadium in 1927. Expansions have continued every since at the Home of the 12th Man.

Seating: 102,455

What started in 1921 as Shields-Watkins Field has grown for decades to now encompass both Shields -Watkins Field and the venue that surrounds it, becoming the 102,000-plus-seat Neyland Stadium on the campus of the University of Tennessee.

With nearly 20 expansion projects in its lifetime, Neyland has evolved from the early days of just 3,200 seats in a west grandstand in 1921 all the way up to over 104,000 seats before dipping slightly to its current capacity.

Seating: 102,321

The 528 windows on the exterior of Tiger Stadium on the campus of Louisiana State University serve a real purpose as a Tiger Stadium was a dormitory for about 1,500 students for decades.

Opened as a 12,000-seat stadium in 1924 with stands on both the east and west side, expansion ensued in 1936 that turned Tiger Stadium into a horseshoe and added seating above the addition of dorm rooms. The state budget allowed money for dorm rooms, so LSU took advantage of the funds in a double-whammy and even used the rooms as part of student housing until the late 1980s. Tiger Stadium turned into a bowl in 1953 and eventually reached over 102,000 seats and into the upper echelon of the world's largest stadiums.