Great news! Will be a real litmus test for the state of basketball in this countr beyond the NBL. Indications are that most of our NBA contingent will be back for this, what are realistic expectations for crowd numbers? Surely BA wouldn't invest in obtaining an arena of this size without some well placed optimism?

those are the junoir prices....

cat 3 is $100 for an adult
cat 4 is $61 for an adult
cat 5 is $40 for an adult

this costs more then an NBA game...

Point is there is more games. This is a one - off. I don't know how often we will get pretty much all of our big names on the same court in Australia. If we do get Bogut (and the quote I will post at the bottom suggests that is still the plan) then this really will be a big deal.

If we get all our available NBA guys, we fill a 15 thou arena, we get FTA coverage of the game (which is the aim) and we play well, what could this do for Basketball in Australia? Surely a few NBA heads with no NBL interest will give it a look?


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Airbnb Australian Boomer, Andrew Bogut, in the midst of NBA Playoffs with the Golden State Warriors, said: "I am thrilled to be playing for the Airbnb Boomers in front of our home crowd in Melbourne. This is a fantastic opportunity for Aussie fans to get behind our national teams and I urge everyone to come out to Rod Laver Arena and support us with the passion we know the basketball community has."

There are talks of it, Anonymous.

Nine live is a major sponsor...

Victorian Major Events Company is behind this game also. Some serious cash injected.

Channel 9 TV cameras were in attendance at the media announcement. Very little press in attendance (Roy Ward was there).

Had a great chat with Exum, Lemanis & Joyce.

A couple of additional/different quotes in my article below.

Returning NBA stars highlight Boomers and Opals double-header

Don't know - putting 2 and 2 together - however it does not always add up.

I have a feeling any potential TV announcement may only come once the "Sold Out" sign goes up.

Form a Basketball Victoria email about ticket sales for the event:

Never in Australian history have so may current Australian NBA stars played together, with teams set to feature Aron Baynes, Andrew Bogut, Elizabeth Cambage, Matthew Dellavedova, Dante Exum, Laura Hodges and Parry Mills.

Parry Mills? Who is he?

Get in early from 9am Melb time on Monday by quoting "CAMBAGE" for tickets.

They will not announce such an arrangement - if it were to eventuate - until it suits them.

I think a game of this magnitude would be televised somewhere. At very least on something like Fox Sports if nothing else. It will be televised.. I just hope NZ brings their A squad too so that this isn't an absolute 30 point bollocking.

Very expensive tickets. We'll see if that's foolish or genius in a few months' time.

I think the expensive tickets were a mistake. Although we are seeing NBA caliber you don't want to run the risk of having an empty arena.

Interestingly, most of the $170-odd tickets (Cat 1) have sold already...

Plenty of Cat 2 and 3 left at the cheaper rates.

The top dollar ones aren't the potential issue, it's the high cost of your average ticket which makes up the bulk of the stadium.

Works like this guys....

Sell out the venue based on Bogut, Mills, Exum & Delly playing

Get TV deal based on sold out status

Players pull out 1 by 1, leaving us watching Gibbo & Baynesy for $40-100 a ticket.

We are trying to build the sport up are we not. Cheaper cat 3 tickets should have been implemented to allow for anyone to go see Aussie home grown NBA talent, not just for the rich.

Could have kept all the other ticket prices as is. Potentially could have increase the cat 1 tickets.

Big Arena - think less about the cash grab and more about filling the stadium and exposing Australian basketball

Pipe Dreams I know

It's a nice thought, Flinders.
I agree that the cheap seats should actually be cheap. A sold out arena would be a much needed boost for aussie basketball.

Here's hoping for the miracle of Bogut going the rest of the season without an injury. Him participating in the NZ series would be a great step toward it being successful from the fans' POV.

Agree with you Flinders.

Got me some good seats. All the people complaining about prices get over it spend the money and enjoy this great experience us melbourians are lucky to have. Suck shit Sydney!

Yep Benno seems to have the right idea, forget about the cost forget about growing the sport just grab some tickets for yourself (not for the family that would cost too much)or go watch the footy instead, that should grow the sport here a ton I'd say....

A sell-out would do so much for the sport. It is a rare opportunity to even think about achieving a sell-out, regardless of ticket cost. But it looks like BA just wants to capitalise on the opportunity to make some extra cash, but have likely messed that up too. History says BA are total morons, and this fits the pattern so far. Let's hope enthusiasm for the Boomers is surprisingly strong on the back of some good publicity and some guaranteed big name players and, miraculously, there is a sell-out.

Adult tickets (good seats too - front few rows of the upper level) are still available for $39. $39 for two games of elite international basketball is good value.

With the Spurs out the playoffs, do you think this might have a negative impact on ticket sales for this game?

No Spurs means less interest from an Australian point of view given the Mills/Baynes factor as far as getting playoff highlights on the news, hence drumming up interest in the game.

Its only really Andrew Bogut's Warriors that have a significant Australian in the spotlight now. You could argue the other Aussies must be counted also (Delly, Bairstow) but they probably wont make any highlights.

I think BA are morons for charging these prices at a time when basketball is very shaky (as always).

"Adult tickets (good seats too - front few rows of the upper level) are still available for $39. $39 for two games of elite international basketball is good value"

people arnt buying these becasue they are classed as obstructed, only obstruction is that the adverstisng singage is infront of u instead of a seat but it only stops the view if u slouch right down or are soo small ! i took these seats !!!

"I think our greatest strength (the number of NBA players we have) could also be our weakness"

Most of our NBA players were in Spain last year. It's largely irrelevant. Once you understand where your points come from, and have the key players to create that, it's about having players who can fill all the necessary roles and play well together.

i think he means should be as in, andre might not play his ass!
i thought dante should have gotten more time in the worlds to help develop him and the same thing could happen here, we should be able to handle NZ just depends on how we play and who we play

I love how most people assume these guys will play.Nobody will have an injury or have small operations between seasons will they?
Very naïve. I know people who want to fly down from Qld but with the fare a hotel and now ridiculous ticket prices, will end that.
They aren't the Melbourne Opals & Boomers!!!!

It all comes down to Bogut and Mills to me. If either of these don't play, you can kiss goodbye any sell out.

This well sell out for sure.

Melbourne is the sporting capital of the world, and people will turn out for this. So many people in Melbourne love the NBA- in the past, games at Vodafone have gone close to a sell out, and if Bogut, Mills and Dante are all playing then you can more or less guarantee an extra 7,000 to fill RLA.

Some of here need to understand that the demands of an NBA season are extreme and at the end of such a long season with so many games, these guys need something called recovery...

They all want to play for Australia, why wouldn't they, but they also want to be able to play, not risk being injured from not being able to recover properly.

This is our biggest issue in the junior ranks IMHO, the fact that our top tier athletes are pushed too far and extreme loads on their body will eventually shorten their careers and limit how often we see them in the green and gold!

Some of us here.....

Yeah I agree with that. The NBA season is extremely taxing. I look at Boris Diaw and Tony Parker who played for France and won the Euro championships, in between two trips to the Finals with the Spurs, and I'm guessing they went 21 months without much of a break. It's crazy. I understand if the likes of Bogut and Mills might not want to risk playing in a qualifying tourny that the Aussies would win comfortably without them.

But, it's undeniable that their presence or lack thereof would have a big effect on the popularity of the Boomers games here. Loads of people follow NBA, much more than NBL. No one even mentions European competition. So those guys are a far, far bigger drawcard than the likes of Newley, Martin, Gibson, Broekhoff etc. The basketball die hards (me) will go anyway but the casual basketball fans need the NBA guys to get them interested.

Yes, the NBA rules itself, but there is much that can be done to promote this and the Euro League guys, so I would be asking the question, 'where is the big promotion?'

They could sell it out if they really wanted to regardless. Use Bogut as an embassador if timing is right but he is too sore to play, just think first and promote it, should work out fine...