While Basketball Australia are currently focused on staging highest attended basketball game in Australian history when the Boomers face Team USA next month, plans are underway to outdo that in 2020.
120,000 fans will attend a two game series between the two countries on Thursday 22 and Saturday 24 August 2019 at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium but that number could be outdone next year with plans for a four nation tournament which would include both Australia’s men’s and women’s teams as well as three other elite basketball nations are being finalised.
It’s hoped the tournament would see Team USA return along with their women’s national team, as well as a number of high ranking European nations would take part in the tournament to be held in multiple cities down under in the lead up to the 2020 Olympics in Japan.
Executive General Manager, Basketball Paul Maley confirmed Basketball Australia are deep in discussions with a number of elite basketball countries about attending the event with would likely outsell the Australia Vs USA series next month in Melbourne.
“We’re in discussions with a while bunch of countries and we’re pretty confident that’s going to come together next year” Maley said on Aussie Hoopla podcast.
“Prior to an Olympics or World Cup, every country is looking for good quality practice matches to tune-up before every event… Interest from the European countries is very strong but the challenge we have is team’s which qualify for the Olympics won’t know they’ve made it until next February”
Although it’s too early for countries to confirm their inclusion in the tournament, USA, Spain, France, Serbia all currently have both their men’s and women’s teams ranked top five in FIBA competition, so it would make sense that all of these teams would be interested in a stop over in Australia for a pre-olympic tune-up, en route to Tokyo.
Maley noted the growth of the NBL and WNBL, the on going success of the NBLxNBA games, the number of Australian’s in the NBA and the results from the NBA Global Academy currently based at the Australian Institute of Sport all being major factors in elite international teams wanting to play games in Australia prior to the World Cup and Olympic Games.
“With Australia only one or two hours difference from China and Japan, Australia in general has some fantastic basketball facilities and the fan base makes it means we’ve got a lot of boxes ticked” added Maley
Plans for the tournament include staging an event similar to the FIBA Diamond Ball tournament which was held prior to the Olympic games in 2000, 2004 and 2008. The Australian Opals won the Diamond Ball in 2004 and the Boomers, who beat Yugoslavia for the gold medal at in 2000, will both be hoping they can deliver similar results, this time on home soil.
Paul Maley noted that holding events like these have become much easier to hold down under with ticket sales for next months Australia Vs USA match-up easily outperforming forecasts and expectations.
Basketball growth in Australia has resulted in a passionate fan base which makes these events far more financially viable than previous years.
“The trend amongst major Australian sports shows basketball is the only sport seeing growth over the past five years with the others remaining stagnant or declining.
Anytime you walk into a stadium they’re absolutely packed from first thing in the morning to late at night and studies are showing we’ve got 2-3 million Australia’s are saying they have a genuine interest in the sport, basketball has a lot of things going well for it right now” noted Maley.
Next months Australia Vs USA series will see 60,000 fans attend each game, blowing the 15,000 people who flocked to see these two teams in Melbourne in a pre-Olympic clash ahead of the Sydney Olympic games.
With the continued growth of the game down under, one can only imagine what type of attendance we could see for a four team tournament next year.
Current Team USA roster includes;
Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards), Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma (LA Lakers), James Harden, PJ Tucker and Eric Gordon (Houston Rockets), Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum (Portland Trail Blazers), Kyle Lowry (Toronto Raptors), Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks), Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) Donovan Mitchell (Utah Jazz), Harrison Barnes (Sacramento Kings), Andre Drummond (Detroit Pistons), Tobias Harris (Philadelphia 76ers), Brook Lopez (Milwaukee Bucks), Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers), Paul Millsap (Denver Nuggets), Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers)
Current Australian Boomers roster includes;
Andrew Bogut (Golden State Warriors), Aron Baynes (Boston Celtics), Patty Mills (San Antonio Spurs), Joe Ingles (Utah Jazz), Mitch Creek (Minnesota Timberwolves), Ben Simmons and Jonah Bolden (Philadelphia 76ers), Matthew Dellavedova and Deng Adel (Cleveland Cavaliers), Jock Landale (Zalgiris Kaunas) Brock Motum (Anadolu Efes), Xavier Cooks (Wurzburg ), Chris Goulding and Mitch McCarron (Melbourne United), Nick Kay (Perth Wildcats), Cam Gliddon and Nathan Sobey (Brisbane Bullets), Todd Blanchfield (Illawarra)