Macao’s outdoor performance venue will be turned into a public 3×3 basketball court and family sports facility during non-performance periods. That’s according to the secretary of culture and social affairs, O Lam, who made the announcement yesterday during a Q&A session at the Legislative Assembly.
In remarks cited by local media, O explained that the measure was intended to allow for the 94,000 square metre venue – situated in Cotai next to the Lisboeta resort – to be used in a more flexible and effective manner.
To this end, the secretary said the government would also allow for the monthly rental of the venue. This is in contrast to the current arrangement, which only allows for daily rentals, with the rate set at 500,000 patacas per day for events with 30,000 people or more.
O did not provide specific details regarding when these two measures would be implemented.
On the future operation of the venue, she noted that a specialised consultation company was being enlisted to help with the tender for the operation of the performance area.
“We are striving to have the bids finalised by the end of this year,” the secretary pointed out. “Our trial period [for the venue] will also end by the end of the year, with the area’s operations set to be officially handed over to the private sector next year.”
She added that an online progress tracking platform would also be introduced for those booking the venue, with the government also looking to further optimise the review process for applicants.
[See more: Over half of Macao’s youth did not attend a single live show in 2025, a new survey finds]
Launched in 2024, the Cotai outdoor performance venue is capable of holding over 50,000 audience members, making it the largest outdoor location of its kind in Macao.
The venue held a star-studded inaugural show on 28 December 2024, although it has struggled to host enough events since then. Last year, only four commercial performances were staged: an Alan Walker concert in June, the 2025 Fact Music Awards in September, a Travis Scott show in October and the WaterBomb Music Festival in November.
Four more events scheduled in 2025 were ultimately cancelled. They were a Cultural Affairs Bureau performance that had been scheduled in March, the S20 Songkran Music Festival in September, the Black Eyed Peas concert in November and Estrelas do KPOP em Macau 2025, which has been postponed to 28 February 2026.
Last year, the venue also attracted controversy when Hong Kong popstar Tyson Yoshi pulled out of the Waterbomb Music Festival at the very last minute after the singer expressed concerns over security and other professional arrangements.
According to O, the government has already received four applications for the staging of events at the outdoor performance venue in the first quarter of this year.
Official sources indicate that the venue’s latest show was originally meant to be the Dauntless World Concert 2026, featuring Chinese and international acts, although the organisers announced last Friday the postponement of the event to an unspecified date.
