Adelaide 36ers hoping to break their all-time NBL crowd record at opening game at Entertainment Centre on Saturday night
The Adelaide 36ers are quietly optimistic of breaking the club’s all-time NBL crowd record when they play their first official game at the Entertainment Centre against Brisbane on Saturday night.
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The Adelaide 36ers are hoping to break their all-time NBL crowd record at the opening of their new home the Entertainment Centre on Saturday night.
The Sixers host Brisbane in Round 3 of the season which is the first proper game at the venue on Port Road which has a capacity of 10,000.
According to the NBL’s statistician, the biggest crowd for an NBL game in Adelaide was 8127 for game two of the 2013-14 grand final series against Perth, narrowly beating 8104 against Illawarra and 8096 against Sydney both in the 2017 regular season.
The 36ers drew 6300 people to their pre-season game against Melbourne last month which was a test-run for the venue which includes a corporate deck at one end of the court and a giant cube-shaped screen hanging from the rafters.
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The club will also pay tribute to its past with a history walk and giant banners hanging from the ceiling.
“We’re optimistic our inaugural game at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre will attract a record-breaking crowd,” 36ers chief executive Ben Kavenagh said.
“We’ve already sold well over 6000 tickets and with the large walk-up traffic we received at our practice game a few weeks back that set a pre-season crowd, so we are well on track.
“We received fantastic feedback from members and fans following the pre-season game that the stadium was world-class, we have a number of layers to add to the event from what was provided on that night, so we’re confident it will be a memorable night for both the 36ers and South Australian sport.
“I strongly encourage all basketball fans to be a part of this history making moment for the club.”
Interestingly it will be Brisbane’s third consecutive game on a new court having played their first ever game at the ‘Armoury’ in Brisbane before taking on the league’s newest franchise, the South East Melbourne Phoenix, at the ‘Fire Pit’ last weekend.
It also marks the first time Nathan Sobey has been back to Adelaide since leaving for the Bullets in the off-season. Sobey was the Sixers’ vice-captain last year and left after 120 games in four seasons.
Adelaide lost its season opening game to Sydney last weekend and coach Joey Wright has never started a season 0-2 in his six years in charge at Adelaide.
“Hopefully we get 11,000,” Wright joked at training this week.
“The numbers look good, pre-sales are good and we know we get a lot of walk-ups in Adelaide, so hopefully they’ll come out and get excited about what we’re doing.”
Tip-off is 5pm on Saturday.
reece.homfray@news.com.au