Sands China Ltd. has struck a multi-year deal with the NBA that will see two preseason games with the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns played in Macao on 10 and 12 October 2025. A celebrity match – the NBA Legends Celebrity Game – also takes place at the newly renovated Venetian Arena on Saturday.
[See more: NBA legends Tony Parker, Ray Allen and others to play a friendly game in Macao]
News of the Nets and Suns games was disclosed today by Sands China’s CEO and president Grant Chum. “We’ll be announcing a multi-year partnership with the NBA to host a series of sporting events, as well as various lifestyle events,” he told a roundtable meeting this morning.
NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, who attended the meeting, said “Next October, the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns are coming to play in Macao,” noting “These two teams are extremely popular in Macao, we know that through our NBA store data.”
Sands China says that its deal with the NBA also covers community outreach activities in Macao and a programme to develop young athletes.
According to US sports outlet ESPN, NBA China CEO Michael Ma has been working assiduously since his appointment in 2020 to promote US basketball in China. It also said Nets owner Joe Tsai, co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, had expressed confidence that more NBA games would be played in China in the near future.
The Associated Press meanwhile reported that two more pre-season games were planned in China in 2026. Chum acknowledged that “NBA China Games Week” would be a regular calendar event from “2025 and beyond.”
Macao has been making well publicised efforts in recent years to diversify its economy away from an overwhelming reliance on casinos. The development of major events, such as large sports tournaments, as a way to broaden the tourism market beyond gamblers is a pillar of the government’s strategy.
[See more: ‘Everything is possible.’ Jusuf Nurkić talks about his journey from a small farm to the NBA]
“What we’re doing here is taking the tourism plus sports strategy to a new level,” Chum said. “[This is] not only going to increase our penetration of international markets but also “cement the city’s reputation on the global tourism stage” he told Macao News.
“We have been putting the building blocks in place, ranging from the destination marketing efforts that we’re making in the international sports market to curating the right set of events and content,” he added. “Macao is already making good progress in the recovery of international visitation, especially in the last few months, but we foresee that we will be driving that recovery higher as we bring in events such as the NBA China Games Week, and there will be more.”
Under the terms of their casino licences, Macao’s concessionaires are required to invest considerable sums in the “non-gaming infrastructure” such as events, cultural facilities and the like.
