The Ekaterinburg World Cup Stadium falls short of capacity requirements. Russian ingenuity solves the problem.

WTF: The Ekaterinburg Arena in Russia needed to meet 35,000 capacity rule for World Cup...so they extended 2 stands outside the stadium. 😳😂 pic.twitter.com/h1EZLzX0PG

— SPORF (@Sporf) October 3, 2017

When the World Cup was given to Russia, the world of sports did not really know how to react. On one side, you have the ruthless, and I think I mean that quite literally, efficiency of the government to get things done. Legend has it, they needed a 500 room hotel built in two weeks for the Sochi Olympics and it was done with a little light nudging from Moscow. You need a little bit of that when trying to pull off an event of this size. On the other side of Russia hosting the World Cup, the country ran one of the most sophisticated government sponsored doping schemes in the history of sports and they have one the greatest reputations for racism and hooliganism in football. They have senators wanting to codify rules for competitive hooliganism. Real pro's pros. All that thrown aside, this is the most ridiculous stadium designs I have ever seen. In any sport. Ever. This makes sitting behind a pole at Fenway look like the best seat in the house in comparison.

Если ты чувствуешь себя одиноко, просто вспомни про трибуну стадиона в Екатеринбурге, которая будет стоять отдельно от всего стадиона pic.twitter.com/GjG7NWL8NF

— Лентач (@oldLentach) September 28, 2017

Now I have no idea what @oldLentach is saying here but I am sure it is something similar to "yea this temporary stand should do the business. Safe as could be". Almost half of the capacity of the stadium is on that rack of steel that is sticking out of the arena. Will you get some sort of discount for sitting in the open-air seemingly a mile away from the pitch? You bet your sweet ass you won't. Get your 94,030 rubles and get ready to climb a structure that looks like a modern day Aggrocrag. You climb up the first few rows easily then come the falling hooligans to dodge. Have to stay light on your feet. You zigzag your way to row ЙЙ seat Ю. You did it. Moe is ready to hand you a medal and boom you realize that you forgot the nachos. All of this to watch Australia play Cameroon in the group stages. Then you remember you are over 1,000 miles from Moscow and in a place in which the temperatures can fall to -49 degrees as late as April. 

If you are heading out to Russia this summer, may the fortunes be ever in your favor.