Proposal for Resolving J.League Stadium Issues #2
How should we resolve the major issue of the stadium problem ??
We know we are repeating ourselves, but we will mention it again.
When J-League club teams ask local governments for their own exclusive stadiums, the key term they use as a form of sophistry is “multi-purpose stadium.”
Although the club teams and their supporters are demanding a dedicated soccer stadium without an athletics track, they refer to it as a multi-purpose stadium. If multi-purpose stadiums are acceptable, then they should simply use existing ones.
A J.League official reportedly stated, “For example, we believe stadiums that incorporate facilities such as shopping malls or medical centers will become the main trend for soccer stadiums in the future. We certainly hope that new stadiums will be constructed in this manner”. In other words, the J.League and club teams are simply demanding that the soccer stadiums they exclusively use be constructed as part of buildings built by other companies or local governments.
Additionally, Chairman Nonomura stated, “Some J.League club teams are still using stadiums that are 30 to 40 years old. In terms of pursuing business growth, it is problematic that key infrastructure and facilities remain unchanged.” In other words, while occupying stadiums used by the public, he is telling local governments to construct new stadiums every 30 to 40 years.
Both this chairman and the media figures who praise this chairman as having “the great strength of being able to express opinions from both a player’s and a management perspective” are too detached from the general public. It feels absurd and disgusting. With this kind of attitude, it’s no wonder the J.League is becoming unpopular.
By the way, the term “multi-purpose stadium” used by J.League club teams does not include a soccer field. The soccer field is an area exclusively occupied by the J.League.
From a balance sheet perspective, areas that would generate a deficit should not be constructed in the first place.
In other words, it would be sufficient to build only shopping malls and hospitals while developing parking lots in the stadium space.
The solution we introduced previously was the ”Supporters Stadium Condominium (Residential)”. This concept envisions a J.League Town created by the club team and its supporters.
We believe the following proposal could also be a solution.
“True Supporters Membership Program”
Literally, this distinguishes J.League supporters from ordinary fans and positions them as premium members.
We also see articles about local chamber of commerce and industry and similar organizations promoting the construction of J.League exclusive stadiums.
Therefore, we propose simultaneously recruiting sponsor-supporters, as this is expected to attract a significant number of applicants.
If there are few applicants, the chamber of commerce and industry promoting J.League exclusive stadiums will simply become propaganda groups Leeching off tax money.
Supporters must purchase an annual season ticket for the supporters’ section behind the goal.
The annual season ticket purchase process should be much the same as before.
However, the system itself will be significantly changed.
All revenue earned by supporters and sponsor-supporters will be provided in full to the local government that owns the stadium.
This revenue shall cover the stadium’s maintenance costs and usage fees including turf maintenance expenses.
Club teams will discuss and determine annual maintenance and usage fees with the local government that owns the stadium. The premise here is that the local government will bear no costs whatsoever.We believe that usage fees and maintenance costs covering 10 months would be reasonable. This is because, based on the fall-spring schedule (early August to mid-December and mid-February to early June), the club team occupies the stadium for just over eight months, and turf preparation is required starting one month before the season begins or resumes.
The number of supporters to be recruited will correspond to the number of supporter seats (behind the goal). This is because these seats are treated as season tickets.
Sponsor-supporters may use the number of seats they have purchased for promotional campaigns for their own products or to invite customers. However, they must make an alignment with the club team regarding the number of seats to be used and the match dates. Since general-sale seats will be utilized, this is to prevent any issues with ticket sales.
For example, let’s set the target number of supporters at 2,000.
And let’s set the number of sponsor-supporters spots at 3,000.
Let’s estimate the usage and maintenance costs for 10 months at approximately 3 billion yen.
In this case, the price for a Supporter membership would be 150,000 yen per seat, and the price for Sponsor-supporters membership would be 900,000 yen per spot.
Revenue would total 3.0 billion yen, with 300 million yen from Supporter memberships and 2.7 billion yen from Sponsor-supporters memberships.
This is just one example. Each club team sets its own pricing based on the stadium it uses.
Since the J.League has declared itself a professional sports league and has even established its presumptuous stadium rules, it should fundamentally construct its own exclusive stadium.
However, we believe it could avoid some criticism if it were to pay the full amount for the number of days the stadium is occupied and the maintenance costs without any reductions or exemptions.
This definition of a supporter also applies to away teams.
This is to encourage mutual support among supporters of J.League club teams.
However, season ticket-style treatment is not possible at the away team’s stadium. The change involves adjusting ticket prices to support the opposing club team. However, these revenues remain the revenue of the club team.
For example, suppose the price ranges from 8,000 to 10,000 yen.
If the price is 8,000 yen and there are an average of 1,500 away supporters per match, that would generate 240 million yen in revenue over 20 matches.
Supporters will help support the use and maintenance of the stadium, becoming what everyone recognizes as the 12th player.
We believe it will become expected behavior for players to come to the supporters’ section at the end of a match.
Also, club teams could use this system to save up construction costs and construct their own stadium.In that case, perhaps the usage fees could be treated as property taxes.
Reference: Kaisha SHIKIHO [Japan Company Handbook] ONLINE “Influential Chairman Nonomura’s blueprint for a ‘profitable J.League’: The key is the creation of a ’20 billion yen club“ (2024/08/15)
https://shikiho.toyokeizai.net/news/0/774109
Reference: The Nikkei “The Value of ‘J’: The Road to Redefinition: Mitsuru Murai, Former J. League Chairman, Reflecting on 30 Years of the J. League (4)” (2024/08/15)
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQODH0837M0Y3A500C2000000
Reference: Tokyo Sports (2026/03/18)
https://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/articles/-/305543
Reference: J League (2026/03/18)
https://aboutj.jleague.jp/seasonreview2024/management/m_3
Reference: Hiratsuka Chamber of Commerce and Industry
https://hiratuka-cci.or.jp/shinsta
Reference: Akitaken Shokokai Rengokai. (2026/03/290
https://www.skr-akita.or.jp/15797
Thanks.