SM Seaside Cebu Arena is now officially open.
SM Prime Holdings chairman Hans T. Sy led the ribbon cutting and inauguration of the P7-billion event venue that sits next to the Cebu Harbor.
It has a total area of 19,000 square meters and a maximum capacity of 25,000 people, same as the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
“This was done 20 years ago, when we had big pieces of land. But for sure this won’t be the last. There should be other developments coming. We’ve been into township development," said Sy.
He added that his father has always believed in Cebu. “I just followed his direction.”
“This is only initial, we still have the convention center. The hotels are coming. And you will see more in the pipeline.”
Invited promoters, suppliers, partners, and media, were given a tour of the arena, highlighting some of its new features like the practice area (the size of a basketball court), premiere suites, spacious locker and dressing rooms to cater big sporting events, pageants and the most in-demand music superstars, a prayer room, a 360-LED screen for smoother and borderless visual experience centerstage, adjustable arm chairs, less steep seats in the higher levels, among others.
As for Sy’s wishlist of who he wants to grace the newly-opened arena, he said, “At first, we were supposed to surprise everyone sana with Bruno Mars. But Bruno Mars just started his world tour. But I promise you, we will convince him to come here.”
He added that they are working on a lot of surprises, and even hinted
“There’s another K-pop group that has a Filipina in there, so we’re trying to get them. But I believe that with the two venues (MOA Arena and Seaside Arena), there’s a certain advantage that we can convince a lot of them to come.”
We asked, “Katseye ba yun?” he replied, “That’s part of it also.”
SM Seaside Cebu Arena will open its major events calendar with the BINI Signals World Tour on Saturday, July 11.
Other upcoming shows include IV of Spades, TJ Monterde and KZ Tandingan, Hillsong worship, and LANY.