Virtual Venue is heading to World Stadiums & Arenas Summit 2026

We’re excited to announce that Virtual Venue will be attending the World Stadiums & Arenas Summit 2026, taking place 31 March - 1 April 2026 at the Hilton Riyadh Hotel & Residences in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This Summit is where the region’s stadium and arena decision makers meet the global leaders in venue development, operations, security, technology, and sustainability, sparking the next wave of innovation.

Why World Stadiums & Arenas Summit matters to us

This Summit sits at the intersection of the challenges Virtual Venue was built to solve: venue complexity, multi-stakeholder coordination, operational readiness, and sustainability. We provide a map-centric, collaborative platform that turns venue planning into a shared, real-time operating picture, helping teams move faster, reduce risk, and cut travel and rework. That’s why World Stadiums & Arenas Summit is a key moment for us.

If these challenges are on your roadmap, our latest guide breaks down what “modern” looks like in practice. Read Smart Stadium Operations: 2026 Guide.

What Virtual Venue will showcase in World Stadiums and Arenas Summit

Virtual Venue will have its own booth at the World Stadiums & Arenas Summit, where we’ll be showcasing:

• Digital twin venue mapping and overlays
  Build and manage venue overlays, allocations, zones, flows and more.
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• Immersive 360º virtual site visits
  Let teams “walk” venues remotely using 360º panoramas tied to the map, cutting unnecessary site trips while improving planning confidence.
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• Action point workflows that live on the map
  Raise, assign, track and export issues with a precise location context, so problems get resolved earlier, not on matchday.
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• Site visit reporting on the go
  Digitize inspections with photos, signatures, structured checklists, and audit trails, supporting smoother venue turnover and clearer accountability.
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• ‍Asset planning and logistics visibility
  Request, track, and manage event assets by location, catalog, site stock, and supplier, so delivery is smarter and wastage is lower.

Why Riyadh, why now

Saudi Arabia is in the middle of one of the world’s most ambitious venue and live-events expansions, making this summit uniquely relevant right now. On the infrastructure side, the Kingdom has unveiled major stadium projects such as King Salman Stadium in Riyadh (92,000 seated capacity), positioned to host top-tier global events, and the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium in Qiddiya (46,000 seated capacity), a landmark venue planned as part of the wider Qiddiya giga-development.

On the events calendar, Saudi’s trajectory is equally significant. The country will host the AFC Asian Cup from 7 January to 5 February 2027 and Riyadh has also been confirmed to host Expo 2030 from 1 October 2030 to 31 March 2031, two huge operational programmes that raise the bar on readiness, coordination and sustainability.

And looking further ahead, Saudi Arabia was officially appointed to stage the FIFA World Cup 2034, accelerating new-build and upgrade plans across multiple host cities.

Faster, smarter, greener venue management & event delivery

Sustainability has moved from “nice to have” to non-negotiable for stadiums and arenas. Whether it’s ESG reporting, government expectations, sponsor requirements, or the simple reality of rising operational costs, venues are being pushed to prove they can deliver world-class events with a smaller footprint.

But sustainability isn’t a separate workstream, it’s the outcome of smarter operations: fewer unnecessary site trips, less paper, tighter coordination across stakeholders, and better decisions made earlier in the planning cycle.

That’s exactly what Virtual Venue enables. By bringing planning, operations and reporting into a single map-centric workspace, teams reduce waste (time, travel, rework) while gaining shared visibility and stronger accountability.

And if sustainability is a priority for your venue (or it’s about to become one), we’ve laid out the bigger picture here: Sustainability in Sports Events Is No Longer Optional.

See you in Riyadh

If you’re attending World Stadiums & Arenas Summit 2026, we’d love to meet. Book a meeting in advance so we can prepare a focused session for you.

About World Stadiums & Arenas Summit

The World Stadiums & Arenas Summit is the premier stadium and sports facilities event in Saudi Arabia and the wider region, setting the benchmark for world-class standards, innovation, and sustainability in sports infrastructure.

With Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 accelerating investment in sports and entertainment infrastructure, the summit has become the definitive platform to explore what’s next, from smart stadium systems and operational digitalization to eco-friendly facilities and future-ready fan experiences. And it’s not just a conference: it’s a high-intent marketplace where business gets done, connecting decision-makers, investors, and top-tier suppliers to forge partnerships and secure contracts that will define the region’s venue pipeline for years to come.

World Stadiums and Arenas Summit in numbers: In 2025, the summit brought together 1,551 attendees, 103 sponsors & exhibitors, 65 speakers, 10 project showcases, and 22 media partners, and for 2026 it’s expected to grow to 2,000+ attendees, 100+ sponsors & exhibitors, 80+ speakers, 20+ project showcases, and 40+ media partners.