Free-to-air events, swanky stadium: What HK’s sports push is really about

HONG KONG – Hong Kong has gone big into building up its sporting culture in recent years.

The city’s sports push is multi-pronged: providing better facilities, improving access to spectator sports, hosting more major sporting events and encouraging greater participation.

It has poured billions of dollars into its biggest stadium, the Kai Tak Sports Park in Kowloon City, which opened in 2025, and is set to build new elite training venues in the Northern Metropolis, an upcoming tech mega hub bordering Shenzhen.

The government has, since 2021, deviated from tradition by buying broadcasting rights for major global sporting events like the Olympic Games, allowing local viewers to watch them free on TV.

Initially, it was because no private broadcaster could afford the US$70 million (S$89 million) rights to air the Games. But Chief Executive John Lee in 2024 said he subsequently continued doing so after witnessing the “social value, joy, unity and pride that arose” from Hong Kongers watching their athletes perform.

The city also co-hosted China’s National Games for the first time, with Guangdong and Macau, in 2025.

Why is Hong Kong going all out to support and promote sporting culture?

The answer is manifold, according to Hong Kong’s Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law, and has a lot to do with boosting the economy and uniting society.

“First of all, we want our people to have a healthy lifestyle,” Ms Law told The Straits Times in an exclusive interview in April.

“Second, having people participate in sports and enjoy watching sports helps cultivate a good local fan and audience base when we organise major events.”

The minister highlighted several major sports events hosted in Hong Kong over the past year, including the inaugural Football Festival in 2025, which featured English Premier League clubs such as Liverpool and Arsenal playing in the city. Additionally, Hong Kong hosted the Saudi Super Cup football tournament when it made its debut in East Asia.

Most recently, the city’s annual Rugby Sevens was attended by a record crowd of more than 113,000 spectators from April 17 to 19.

“All these events were very well attended,” Ms Law said. “Many were, of course, attended by visitors from nearby cities, but our local fans also made up a huge part of the spectators.”

Several competitive sports like football, fencing and handball are rapidly gaining bigger audiences in the city because their teams did well in the National Games, she added.

Hong Kong athletes made history at the games in November 2025, winning 19 medals, including nine golds. Their performance – which saw big breakthroughs in swimming, fencing, sailing and cycling – broke the city’s previous record of 16 medals set in 2017.

“All these achievements serve to ignite people’s interest, encourage them to try more sports themselves, and also provide a solid fan base for mega events. That is why we have been nurturing a stronger sporting culture in Hong Kong,” the minister said.

Beyond the economics, there is also a social aspect to the city’s concerted sports push.

Hong Kong society was left deeply divided after prolonged anti-government protests in 2019.

Differences in views over strict government regulations to protect the population during the Covid-19 pandemic deepened those divisions, while an economic slowdown and mass migration of residents out of the city in the years that followed left its people dispirited.

The authorities have acknowledged that their campaign to promote and develop the city’s sporting sector is in part meant to foster social cohesion, boost morale and strengthen the people’s sense of national identity.

“Participating in sports events – especially when the local representative team gets a good result – boosts the unity of the entire society,” Ms Law explained.

“For the Hong Kong audience, seeing our teams compete against the country’s best (like in the National Games) gives them a sense of belonging as a part of the country, but also the sense that Hong Kong is a unique part of our country.”

Ms Law added that she is very proud of the city’s policy to support its elite athletes.

Among its measures, the government provides its full-time athletes with monthly grants from HK$10,000 (S$1,600), as well as coaching, medical aid, meals and accommodation.

“This is something we are very proud of in Hong Kong, because not all places in the world provide this sort of support for their athletes,” she said. “And the support is paying off, because you can see our athletes attaining better and better results.”

To further elevate Hong Kong’s sporting scene, the government should now prioritise collaboration with the private sector, according to sports sector legislator Kenneth Fok.

“Public funding alone cannot sustain a thriving industry,” Mr Fok, who is also vice-president of the city’s Sports Federation and Olympic Committee, told ST.

Injecting the sports sector with long-term private funding and commercial expertise in areas like marketing and management would help create a more sustainable ecosystem, he said.

The lawmaker gave the example of a spectator attending a game at the stadium. Private entities’ expertise in organising catering, interactive fan zones and digital engagement at such events is vital to transform a plain “match” into a “curated experience”, he explained.

To maximise the economic impact of Hong Kong’s growing sporting scene, Mr Fok said, “we need the private sector to become active partners in our development”.

“(A public-private partnership) can help us bundle sporting events with shopping, dining and cultural tours. By treating sports as a core pillar of our city’s branding, we attract high-spending international visitors,” he said.

Banking on sports will likely yield economic results for Hong Kong, but healing the society may need more than that; divisions remain even if no longer as visible – or audible – as before.

A law passed in 2020 to criminalise disrespecting the Chinese national anthem swiftly stopped the once-common occurrence of some Hong Kongers booing the song whenever it played at football matches.

But defiant ones found new ways to resist: A Hong Kong football fan was convicted in July 2025 for turning his back to the pitch when the anthem was played.

Now, many simply remain silent.

When Hong Kong fencer Vivian Kong won gold for her sport at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the whole city should have rejoiced. Instead, Hong Kongers quickly found themselves divided again after Kong’s 2021 master’s thesis surfaced online, revealing her support for Beijing’s crackdown on the 2019 protests.

Whatever people’s political opinions, Hong Kong’s big sports push is already on track to bring better health and economic benefits to the city. With time, may healing follow.