Stadium and arena plans around the field

What makes a stadium seating chart work

A stadium seat map is how thousands of fans choose where to sit, and how stewards send them to the right gate. It has to work at two zoom levels: the whole bowl, where a buyer picks a stand and a price, and a single sector, where they pick a row and a seat.

Start with the field. It is the one thing every fan recognises, so place the court first and build the stands around it. In seatorio the football pitch, basketball court and six others come ready as orientation anchors, and the plan always reads from the field outward.

Split the bowl into sectors that match your gates and turnstiles, not just the shape of the concrete. A sector should be a block a steward can point to, with aisles at its edges. Give each a clear name or number and a colour, and use categories such as VIP, Home, Away or Family where prices or access differ.

Plan the tiers. Lower and upper tiers often share a sector number pattern (101 below, 201 above). In seatorio each section can carry a floor name, and the canvas shows one level sharp while the others fade, so a two-tier bowl stays readable. The stadium seating chart template shows a full two-tier bowl with 44 numbered sectors around a football pitch.

Sector, row and seat numbering

Stadium numbering has three levels, and a fan's ticket needs all three: sector 114, row F, seat 22. Get any of them inconsistent between the map, the ticket and the signs in the stand, and the queue at the steward builds up.

In seatorio the sector is the section name, so it can be a number, a stand name or both. Rows inside each sector can be letters, numbers or roman numerals, starting from the pitch or from the back, and seats can run from the left, from the right or from both ends towards the centre. Each sector has its own scheme, so the away end can follow different rules from the main stand.

Corners and curved stands are where numbering usually breaks. Bend rows into arcs, then check that seat 1 sits at the end the stand signage expects. If one block continues the numbers of its neighbour, select the seats of a row and number them from the right start.

Lock numbering before the season ticket campaign. Each seat's uid is built from sector, row and number, so a renamed sector creates new ids for every seat in it.

What your ticketing system gets

seatorio does not sell tickets or run access control. It draws the arena seating plan and hands it to your ticketing platform. The SVG export makes every seat a clickable element with data attributes: a stable id, a uuid, its sector and a status. Each sector outline carries its name, its category and whether it sells per seat or by capacity, and the JSON export gives every seat its row, number and label.

A standing terrace or a fan zone is one section sold by capacity: the plan shows the area and how many places it holds, and the export marks it as a capacity section with that number. Your ticketing sells a quantity instead of seats.

The JSON export holds the whole stadium: sectors, categories, floors, rows, every seat with its uid and accessibility flags, and the press box or camera positions you marked not for sale. Large bowls are heavy: the Pro plan covers plans up to 5,000 seats and Business has no seat limit, as listed on the pricing page. For the integration itself, see how a seat map connects to online booking.

Who uses it

Football and basketball clubs selling season tickets and match tickets from their own website. Arena operators hosting several sports and concerts on the same floor. Ticketing companies onboarding new stadiums who need every venue drawn and numbered the same way. Federations and tournament organisers who move between venues each round. Smaller clubs too: a local football ground with one main stand and a standing terrace is drawn in an hour, and the same plan serves every home match of the season. Indoor arenas can keep one plan per setup, such as basketball, handball or a concert, and duplicate it from the plans list.

A stadium drawing is a big job. If you have it as CAD, PDF or only as signage photos, our done-for-you service returns every stand, row and seat numbered. Concert setups with a stage instead of a pitch work like theatre seating charts, and gala dinners on the arena floor like ball and gala plans.

Guides for stadiums & arenas

• Stadium seat numbering: how sectors, rows and seats workA stadium ticket reads "Sector 104, row 12, seat 7". Each part of that line answers one question for the fan: which gate, which stairway, which seat.
• How to build an interactive seat map for your websiteA clickable seat map does not need a heavy library. An SVG in which every seat is its own element with its data attached, one click listener and a lookup into your inventory are enough.