A year after government takeover, Sports Hub saw 30% increase in event days in 2023

THE Singapore Sports Hub marked its first full year after the project’s handover to the government by announcing a 30 per cent increase in sports, entertainment and lifestyle event days compared to pre-Covid in 2019.

On Wednesday (Dec 6), Kallang Alive Sport Management (KASM) – the corporate entity established by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and Sport Singapore to manage the S$1.33 billion facility in Kallang – hailed the “strong pipeline” of events in 2023 that contributed to this growth.

These include sold-out concerts by international performers such as K-pop group Blackpink and Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung. The latter set a new record for the most number of shows by an artiste – 11 in total – in a single leg of a concert tour in Singapore.

More than 140 National School Games and school sports events were held at multiple venues within the Sports Hub. A number of major sport events were staged at the venue for the first time, among them basketball’s FIBA Intercontinental Cup, and the South-east Asia debut of the Hyrox fitness race.

Just last weekend, the annual Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon saw 44,000 runners take part in numerous categories with the finish line inside the Sports Hub’s 55,000-seater National Stadium.

This week, the Women’s World Floorball Championships is being played at the OCBC Arena and the Singapore Indoor Stadium – only the second time that the biennial tournament has been held outside of Europe, with the first also in Singapore back in 2005.

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Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, who graced the first anniversary celebrations and witnessed a festive light-up ceremony on Wednesday, hailed the “progressive transformation” that has taken place at the Sports Hub over the past year.

“We have introduced various offerings and programming as we work towards establishing the Sports Hub as a community icon that Singaporeans can identify with and be a part of,” he said.

“Singaporeans and visitors can look forward to even more in 2024, with the opening of the Kallang Football and Tennis Hubs, a stellar line-up of artistes scheduled to perform, new retail and lifestyle offerings, and more sport and community activities for all to enjoy.”

KASM chairman Keith Magnus said the Sports Hub is expected to draw close to a million visitors in 2024 who will be attending concerts by Mayday, Enhypen, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, as well as sports and family entertainment events such as Singapore Smash table tennis tournament, Disney on Ice, the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup and the HSBC Rugby Sevens.

“These events are testimony to Singapore’s position as a leading destination for live sports and entertainment in Asia,” said Magnus.