Edwin Tong led multi-agency team to US to help bring Swift to S'pore

Minister says negotiations for concerts were part of move to revitalise S'pore Sports Hub

- Anjali Raguraman

A team that headed to Los Angeles more than a year ago to woo Taylor Swift to Singapore was led by no less than a minister.

Rarely do such negotiations begin with such a heavyweight on board, but Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong said it was an important project, part of a move to revitalise the Singapore Sports Hub and bring it "back alive".

Ahead of the American pop star's six Eras Tour concerts at the National Stadium beginning on March 2, Mr Tong said in an interview: "The Sports Hub was an important project for me personally and for my ministry...

"We wanted to make sure we left no stone unturned, both in terms of ensuring we kept ourselves updated on what the best venues around the world could offer, but also what content we could bring in." The team comprised officials from the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), as well as representatives from Sport Singapore and Kallang Alive Sport Management (KASM), which had taken over the running of the Sports Hub in December 2022.

On its exploratory trip in early 2023, the team met a number of different operators, promoters and agents for both music concerts and sports events in Los Angeles.

"One such meeting was with Swift's agent, and very quickly we saw an opportunity because she had not yet announced international tour dates, so we put forward a proposition to come to Singapore... (and figured out) what can we do to make it work for you, dates and venue-wise and so on," Mr Tong disclosed in the interview on March 1.

Things fell into place quickly. "I came back from that trip, gave the team some instructions on how we wanted to manage this, and the team took it on, and here we are...