Busan Metropolitan City and Live Nation are teaming up to develop a world-class arena and multi-cultural entertainment complex in Busan, South Korea’s second most populous city after Seoul.

This new state-of-the-art entertainment destination will include a 20,000-capacity arena, an exhibition centre, hotels, and an educational facility to foster talent in K-pop and K-culture. Live Nation will manage the venue and share its world-class industry knowledge of venue planning, design, and ongoing operations. 

The local Live Nation Korea team will also provide expertise on content and concert promotion to book talent at the venue. 

Busan City will assist with the approval procedures relevant to the project site and provide administrative support. There are three potential sites that are being investigated for the complex in Busan City’s projects.

Busan’s Mayor Heong-Joon Park said: 

The arena will become a hub of tourism empowered by K-pop, contributing to the local and national economy. The complex will create many opportunities and synergies with other cultural organizations in Busan including Osiria Sightseeing Complex, Haeundae Beach and local festivals like Busan Fireworks Festival and G-Star. We are looking forward to seeing Busan transforming into a global city full of cultural diversity.

Live Nation president & CEO Michael Rapino said: 

As we continue to expand our global venue business, Busan will be an important touring hub for global superstars who are touring more of the world, as well as K-pop and local artists. We’re excited to help create more opportunities for artists and fans to connect, while also contributing to the growing tourism in the city.

Live Nation’s Venue Nation owns, operates or has equity interests in a global portfolio of more than 250 live entertainment venues, handling daily operations for venues of all sizes, while also managing a development pipeline aimed at supporting growing touring markets around the world. 

Across the Asia Pacific, Venue Nation also oversees Grange Road in Singapore, Spark Arena in New Zealand, and the Palais Theatre, Festival Hall, Anita’s Theatre, Fortitude Music Hall, and Hindley Street Music Hall in Australia.

The development of this entertainment space is more important than ever, with K-pop rapidly growing a global audience. A study conducted by the KCTI (Korea Culture &Tourism Institution) on K-pop as a global phenomenon found that the economic effect of BTS’ three-day tour in Korea was estimated to range between 619.7 and 1.22 trillion Korean Won for each concert. 

@PanStadiaArena