The City of Rock was created for the Rock in Rio festival in 1985. In 2001, the event returned there for its third edition. It held crowds of up to 250,000 people in one night.
With the name "Complexo Esportivo Cidade do Rock" (City of Rock Sports Complex), the area became one of the venues of the 2007 Pan American Games. Temporary stadiums for baseball and softball, with a capacity of 3,000 and 2,000 respectively, were erected on the site.[1] The venue suffered with rain and power shortages, and both tournaments had games cancelled for bad field conditions.[2]
New City of Rock was constructed to the southeast of the nearby Riocentro exhibition center, in a partnership between the city of Rio de Janeiro and Rock in Rio creator Roberto Medina. Known as "Parque Olímpico Cidade do Rock" (City of Rock Olympic Park) or Parque dos Atletas (Athletes' Park), the venue started being built in 2010 and was completed one year later, to host the fourth edition of Rock in Rio.[4] Further editions followed in 2013 and 2015.[5]