Sands China CEO and President Grant Chum said Macao was diversifying its economy away from gaming to become a “sports city and … an entertainment city,” during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping the city that ended on Friday.
In an interview on “Squawk Box Asia“, Chum cited an agreement announced in early December between Sands China and the North American National Basketball Association to play two NBA preseason games in China.
“We will bring the NBA China games back to China, but this time in Macao,” Chum told CNBC's Emily Tan. “We don't want to just do a one-man event. We believe that a multi-year partnership, where we will be playing these pre-season games over several years, is going to strengthen Macao's position significantly.”
The games are part of Sands China's commitment to invest $4.5 billion in the city through 2032, and “more than 90% … will be in non-gaming investments,” Chum said.
Together, the six game operators Macao – China's special administrative region – pledged to invest nearly $15 billion to make its economy less dependent on gambling revenue. Operators' gaming licenses were renewed in 2022 – albeit for 10 years, instead of 20 – after each promised to invest heavily in non-gaming projects.
But for some, the transformation is not coming soon enough.
In a speech in Macao on Friday, Xi praised the special administrative department before laying out the city's “three expectations”, including a request to “keep up with the trends of the times,” while ' as it showed “greater confidence in reform and innovation,” according to a transcript provided by China's State Council.
Xi also urged the city to take steps to attract more foreign talent, sentiment raised by Alan Zemannon-executive chairman of Wynn Macao, Thursday on “Asia's Squawk Box.”
Construction of the Macao logo
Chum said Sands China has already delivered one major project – the renovation of the 14,000-capacity Venetian Arena, formerly the Cotai Arena, in November.
“We invested more than US$200 million in the basic renovation and renovation of the Venetian Arena,” he said. “This facility will be state-of-the-art, not only for exhibitions and conventions, but also live music and also increasingly large sporting events”.
The Venetian Arena will host NBA preseason games starting in 2025. The first two games, between the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns, are set for October, NBA assistant commissioner Mark Tatum said earlier this month.
Chum said these games will enhance Macao's position as a destination for major world events.
“We expect over time, this is going to build Macao's brand equity,” he told CNBC.
Chum said Macao's gaming revenue has recovered to about 80% of 2019 levels, and tourists – which he called “the most important health indicator for the tourism economy” – reached pre-disease levels pandemic in August and October.
Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the British handing Macao back to China in December 1999.
The NBA deal also marks the return of pre-season games to China for the first time since 2019. In October of that year, China they suddenly ended an arrangement to broadcast pre-season games in the country over a tweet made by then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey expressed support for anti-Beijing protesters in Hong Kong.
