Arena Market: Paraguay

Paraguay only has one indoor arena – the 5,500-capacity SND Arena (Secretaría Nacional de Deportes), which is in the centre of the capital city, Asunción, and is state-owned, providing a home for basketball, handball, futsal, volleyball, and other sports. Having been refurbished in 2018, it is in full swing once more, with Myriam Hernández, Luciano Pereyra, Danny Ocean, and Soledad visiting in recent months.

But in a country sandwiched advantageously between Brazil and Argentina, with an economy that is growing healthily, powered by agriculture, livestock, and hydropower, there is an ambition for more. It could come in the form of the proposed Smart Arena, a 15,000-capacity, state-of-the-art venue, which hopes to be the first sustainable arena in South America.

“With [Smart Arena], we will be able to programme shows like those of other major markets that have the infrastructure in place,” local event producer Walter Ayala, the man behind the plan, said in April. “We will have more tourists and attract more artists. We haven’t had a Coldplay or a Madonna here. We have a great opportunity here to help the region economically.”

“We will have more tourists and attract more artists. We haven’t had a Coldplay or a Madonna here. We have a great opportunity here to help the region economically.”

Ayala’s hope is for construction to begin in 2025, with completion in October 2027, though the project is currently still in the design stages.

One important incentive for a sizeable new indoor space is the unpredictable weather and the bearing it can easily have on shows in outdoor venues, which are the Paraguayan norm.

Large-mass concerts are held at Espacio IDESA due to its capacity (it can accommodate more than 70,000) and its location in the northeast of Asunción. The Kilkfest and Asunciónico festivals have both made use of its surroundings, though the latter has relocated to the Parque Olímpico in Luque for recent editions. The former was last seen in 2022 at another staple outdoor venue, the Jockey Club in central Asunción, where touring workhorse Louis Tomlinson was also to be found in May, and Colombian band Morat are coming in September.

The José Asunción Flores Amphitheatre in rural San Bernardino, to the east of Asunción, has space for 20,000 or so, under the stars, and concerts have included Fito Páez in February and the annual Reciclarte festival. Last December, the amphitheatre nearly took delivery of leading local promoter G4Pro’s Primavera Sound Asunción with The Cure, Argentinian rockers El Mató a un Policía Motorizado, Slowdive, and others, before police security recommendations sent the event back to its originally intended outdoor venue at the Parque Olímpico.