The Impact Of "Macao Public Sports Facilities Network Program" On Usage Of Sports Venues

In the past, sports venues which were managed by Sports Development Board were very small; conditions and facilities were not standardized. Due to the lack of international standard, even the fire control facilities, air conditioning and also the shower facilities were not well-equipped. In addition, because of the restrictions of the sports policies, Federations had the priority of renting the venues; therefore, this did limit the number of residents and general communities on using the venues. As a result, conditions of sports venues for the residents were just mediocre.Nevertheless, improvement has been shown since Public sports facilities network was launched. Next, let us explore how Public sports facilities network impacts the sports venues.Regarding management of sports facilities, there are different ways of interpretation within all relevant departments/units in the Macao Special Administrative Region, the departments responsible for managing the sports facilities are not centralized. The major departments responsible for managing the sports facilities are:Sports Development Board, Education and Youth Bureau, Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Federation of Associations of Workers of Macao, as well as primary and secondary schools.In order to reveal both positive and negative impact of the Macao Public Sports Facilities Network against the existing sports facilities, the measures of collecting documents and records, data of the usage, interview and logical analysis were taken to investigate the present situation of the utility rate of the facilities under the Network.Three large-scale international multi-sports games had been held during three consecutive years, from2005to2007, causing a breakthrough increase in number of sports stadiums, some of them are newly constructed and some venues are rebuilt or expanded.All sports facilities of Macao, as well as sports venues are managed by different departments/units, but the method of rental to public applied by each of them, the distribution and level of maintenance of facilities are quite irregular. However the few new venues are large venues and in accordance with international standards, which require some planning and skill to make full use of their space, in order to feedback the residents of Macao SAR. The situation is similar to the one of all the stadiums built by China for the2008Olympic Games, which also have certain difficulties in putting them to public use immediately after the games, especially regarding the control of running costs of management, maintenance, etc., which must be very cautious, in order to reach the purpose of breaking even as far as possible. In view of that, in the point6.7"Making efforts in completing the sports infrastructure" of the area of sports of the Administrative Policies of2005published by the Macao Special Administrative Region, it was clearly mentioned that:"With the increase of sports facilities and space, more diversified recreational activities will be provided to stimulate the participation of the public and to establish good sports habits. Meanwhile, more space for sports activities also will be developed in densely populated or nearby areas, and to seek cooperation with other public sectors to establish a network of public sports facilities in order to spare more space for public enjoyment. After a series of studies and researches, the Macau Sports Development Board, finally on January23,2006, launched a new policy project called "Public Sports Facilities Network" program, besides matching up the requirements of the administrative policies, hoping also to cooperate with all sports facilities of the Sports Development Board, and that the sports facilities of other departments can all be fully used, forming a network of venues with organized system, for public use.Before2006, only members of federations or organizations could apply to rent the venues under the Sports Development Board, and until2005, there were only11sports venues under the Sports Development Board. Till2010, the number of venues had been increased to20(counting only the venues), without counting those already included in the network of public sports facilities under co-operation with the Sports Development Board. And in the past, the venues in the primary and secondary schools in Macao SAR were never open to general public, the schools always decided to give priority to schools' and students' use, only after that and according to the nature of the organizations which applied to lease the venues, the schools would then conduct the feasibility study of their application. Therefore in the past, the residents of Macao Special Administrative Region would only have the chance to use the sports facilities of Macao if they participate in the interest classes or joint the respective federations or organizations.The result shows that the Network brings positive impact on the utility rate. Therefore, this particular policy should be kept optimizing, in order to further improve this platform,"Macao Sports Facilities Network", for better serve the development of sport.This study was carried out by means of literature method, visiting method, Delphi method and logical analysis. As I work in sports venues for years, I wish to provide to the Government of Macao Special Administrative Region, analysis and recommendations beneficial to the promotion of sports-related policy.