Will Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Sports Park breathe new life into nearby bars?

For years, rowdy spectators leaving Hong Kong Stadium after major sporting events would walk, or stumble, towards Wan Chai’s Lockhart Road to keep the party going late into the night.

But with major events expected to move to the new Kai Tak Sports Park, on the other side of Victoria Harbour, other neighbourhoods might have a chance to capitalise on an influx of patrons.

The HK$30 billion (US$3.9 billion) site, which officially opens on Saturday, is central to the government’s drive to stage major sporting and entertainment events.

The main 50,000-seat stadium will host the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament at the end of the month, while British music act Coldplay will play four shows there in April.

The sports park and the surrounding Kai Tak area feature a number of shopping centres and restaurants, but many are closed by 11pm. The organisers of the Sevens will also open a “Fan Village” outside the main stadium with its own bar area, but it too will close at 11pm.

Popular tourist hotspot Tsim Sha Tsui, which is also home to a number of nightlife spots such as Knutsford Terrace, is 20 minutes away by public transport.