KSPO Dome / Jamsil Arena

The KSPO Dome does not sit on a pitch. It sits on a hardwood floor. It was built to hold gymnasts, not players. The renovation changed the light in the room. Between 2016 and 2018, they stripped out the old scaffolding and installed a ceiling that makes the space feel smaller, tighter. The capacity of 15,000 remains, but the sightlines have shifted. The name changed with the work; it is no longer the Olympic Gymnastics Arena. It is the KSPO Dome. There is no professional basketball team that calls this home. The Seoul Samsung Thunders play their games at the Jamsil Arena, a different building down the road, built earlier and with a different soul. Here, the silence is louder. You can hear the shoes sliding on the wood. You can hear the ball bounce. It is not a football ground. It is a hall for movement.

The KSPO Dome in Seoul is an indoor arena built for gymnastics, later converted for basketball and concerts. It opened in 1986 for the Summer Olympics with a capacity of 15,000. A major renovation between 2016 and 2018 updated the facilities and changed the name. The venue has a hardwood floor and is located at 424, Olympic-ro. It is not the home of the Seoul Samsung Thunders, who play at the adjacent Jamsil Arena. The space is defined by the sound of the game played inside it.