According to the Sziget press department, this does not mean the end of the festival's history, and they are confident that Sziget could be more successful with a new, "Hungarian ownership background".

The organizers did indeed request the Budapest Municipality to terminate their land use permit, which expires next year, by mutual agreement.

According to the festival’s press team, the reason for this is that “the foreign owner of the festival – despite previously considering a longer-term development program – has decided not to take any further risks in Hungary under the current structure.”

“Since our land use agreement with the Budapest General Assembly is for a fixed period and the payment obligation would still exist next year, even if there were no event, we are forced to terminate the agreement in this form,” they wrote.

Can Gerendai Save Sziget?

Sziget's press people explained this does not mean that the festival is over, as "in parallel with this decision - at the suggestion of the Hungarian management - the owners of Sziget Zrt. have contacted the festival's founder, Károly Gerendai, offering the opportunity for the event to continue its operations with him again."

However, as negotiations are currently ongoing, so the festival has not revealed any further details.

“We, the Sziget organizing team, sincerely hope that the festival could be even more successful with new, independent Hungarian ownership, as the change simultaneously provides an opportunity for development and renewal, as well as for the reaffirmation of Sziget’s classic values and spirit,” the local festival organisers wrote.

They also said they hope to count on the support of the festival's audience, and “their excellent relationship with their professional partners,” plus “the understanding cooperation of the Capital.”

“We believe that the existence of Sziget is an important, common cause not only for those directly interested in it, but also for the entire country,” they stated.

Károly Gerendai, the founder of Sziget, told Forbes Hungary that, "Although I hadn’t imagined my coming years like this until recently, in the current situation my firm goal is to find a solution to ensure the long-term existence of Sziget" - he stepped down from the organisation in 2022.

The owner of the company responsible for organizing Sziget, the Luxembourg-based Superstruct Entertainment, was bought by the American KKR capital fund for 1.3 billion pounds last summer.

The festival recorded a loss of 1.8 billion forints in 2023 and 3.9 billion forints in 2024, and although the numbers for 2025 are not yet known, according to Forbes, Sziget could close this year with a loss of more than two billion forints.

Update: Karacsony: Proposal to terminate Sziget land use agreement fails to pass in assembly cttee

The Budapest General Assembly's Ownership Committee failed to approve a proposal to terminate the Sziget festival’s existing land use agreement, Gergely Karacsony, the city's mayor, said on Facebook on Wednesday.

Karacsony said this would result in there being no Sziget festival, no discounted passes to the event for Budapest’s youth, no revenue for the city from the land use or business tax revenue.

The mayor said the Ownership Committee’s Fidesz and Tisza councillors had blocked the start of meaningful talks on saving the festival. "Fidesz’s councillors bravely abstained, while the Tisza councillors were even braver and didn’t even vote," he said.
 

He said the government and the other parties were merely paying lip service to the importance of Sziget, underlining that until they approved the termination of the existing agreement, a new one could not be negotiated.

The city assembly, he added, could have approved a new agreement that would have allowed both Budapest and the Sziget festival to benefit from the shared experience they could offer visitors.

Update - Karacsony: Ownership Committee Made Poor Decision on Sziget Festival

The Budapest General Assembly’s Ownership Committee made a poor decision today on the future of the Sziget Festival, as the proposal to terminate the existing land use agreement with Sziget Zrt failed to secure a majority, the city's mayor said on Thursday, arguing that not everyone had fully understood that a new municipal agreement cannot be signed as long as the old agreement remains in force.

"If we want to help save the Sziget, if we want to secure discounts for Budapest’s youth -- and this is my goal - then there is very little time left," Gergely Karacsony said in a post on Facebook. "There may still be enough time to correct today's poor committee decision," he said.

He noted that Fidesz representatives in the committee did not vote, and Tisza representatives "bravely abstained", so the proposal to terminate the existing land use agreement with Sziget Zrt did not receive a majority.

"We know that under the old agreement the foreign owner, who has accumulated billions in losses, will not organise the Sziget next year. So if we want a Sziget Festival with Hungarian owners next year, the old contract must be terminated and a new one signed. It's not that complicated," he said.

"Yet the majority of the Ownership Committee did not vote to terminate it today, thus blocking the process of signing a new agreement."

"Time is running out," he said. If ticket sales for next year's festival cannot begin this month, the Sziget will become economically unviable.

Karacsony said he was initiating a new meeting of the Ownership Committee to revisit the issue. "Call in experts, ask for help, do anything - but don't make the mistake of depriving tens of thousands of people of their freedom experience and Budapest of a cultural treasure," he urged.

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