A stadium is a permanent place for holding sporting events. The Ancient Greeks began the idea of having an oval shape of stadium so they could hold their games. Their games were mainly athletics, and the size of the arena in the centre of the stadium was the length of their most important race, the stadion - about 200m.

The stadion was named after the place in which it took place. This word was adapted by the Romans to stadium, which is what we use today.

At the Olympic Games, the arena track was wide enough for twenty competitors. The race began with a trumpet blow, with athletes standing along a stone line set into the ground at one end. That is what you can see in the video below.

Since this time the shape of stadiums around the world has been adapted to meet the needs of each individual sport, or balance out the needs of a combination of sports. By having more than one sport at a place, the stadium can be used more economically.

Because stadiums can seat very large numbers of people, they are also used for concerts and other non-sporting events. All of this helps to cover the enormous cost of building a stadium.