Budapest Sports Arena

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Budapest Sports Arena is an arena in Budapest, Hungary. It is named Papp László Sportaréna in Hungarian, after boxing great László Papp.

Used primarily for ice hockey, the new Sportaréna opened in March 2003. An older building bearing the same name had been destroyed by fire in December 1999.

Originally it was just called Sportaréna. László Papp's name was added in May 2004.

The venue holds 12,500 people in its largest concert configuration, 11,390 for boxing, and 9,479 for ice hockey.

On March 29, 2007 Hungary will celebrate 80 years of ice hockey with an exhibition game against defending Olympic and World Champion Team Sweden, to be played at Papp László Sportaréna.

[edit] Fire System

The building is protected by several fire safety systems. One of these is the protection alarm system, which in the event of a fire gives off the alarm within 3 seconds. The Budapest Sports Arena is also equipped with a fire hydrant system that, in the case of a catastrophe, can be used at more than 60 positions in the building. Every point of the arena can be reached with the help of the fire hoses. As a unique feature in Hungary the building also contains 3 high-output water canons. All three are positioned in the auditorium protecting the area that caused the destruction of the arena's predecessor. The Arena also has numerous fire doors that automatically lock in the case of a fire, so preventing the further spreading of a fire.