The first thing visitors heading to the Melon Music Awards (MMA) 2023, which took place last month in Yeongjong Island off the west coast of Incheon, South Korea, noticed was a dome-shaped glass structure marking the entrance to the newly opened Mohegan Inspire Entertainment Resort. This striking structure is the gateway to a series of golden-hued buildings that pave the way to the resort’s main area.
Inside, beyond the casino, restaurants, and bars, lies the Inspire Arena - Korea’s first arena specifically designed for performances. An arena is a 10,000 to 20,000-seat performance venue tailored for live events. The Inspire Arena can accommodate up to 15,000 people. The stage and seats can be adjusted at will.
In addition to concerts, the arena can be used for award ceremonies, e-sports competitions, sporting events, and large exhibitions. Last month, Inspire Arena hosted notable events such as the 2023 MMA, K-pop group SHINee and TVXQ’s concerts, and SBS Gayo Daejeon.
The Inspire Area represents the country’s growing prominence in the global entertainment industry. Experts and K-pop fans used to criticize the lack of large-scale performance facilities in the country, considering how popular K-pop and Korean culture have become in recent years.
Most large-scale performances in Korea have been held in sports stadiums with a capacity of more than 10,000 seats such as Jamsil Indoor Stadium, Olympic Gymnastics Arena, Gocheok Sky Dome, Jamsil Olympic Main Stadium, and Sangam World Cup Stadium. These spaces, while large enough to hold concert-goers, were not originally designed with specialized performance needs in mind.
Two more arenas are scheduled to open in the Seoul metropolitan area.
The Seoul Arena opening in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul in March 2027 will offer 18,269 seats, rivaling the capacity of Gocheok Sky Dome, which hosted major events such as the League of Legends (LoL) World Championship. The arena will also feature a 2,000-seat medium-sized venue and a movie theatre. Seoul city is planning to transform the area into the largest performing arts and cultural industry complex in the northeast region of Seoul. The Seoul Arena is set for completion in March 2027.
The CJ Live City project is also underway in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. This project is a 700 billion won initiative backed by CJ to create a complex focused on K-content. It includes a 20,000-seat indoor performance hall and a s40,000-seat outdoor performance hall, along with facilities related to drama and film content.
Hanam, another city in Gyeonggi Province, is working to attract an ultra-large, state-of-the-art venue from U.S. media company Sphere Entertainment. The company’s venue includes Sphere, a futuristic dome-shaped arena in Las Vegas.
The domestic performance industry is expected to get a boost as specialized performance venues continue to increase.
From January to November last year, 17.79 million tickets were sold for performances such as classical music, pop music, musicals, and theater, according to data from the Korea Performing Arts Box Office Information System. Total revenues from ticket sales reached $789 million (1.04 trillion won). Both ticket sales and revenue rose 14 percent and 24 percent, respectively, compared with the same period the previous year.
