The world’s top-selling indoor leagues kick off their new seasons. The NHL kick-off at the beginning of the month is followed by the NBA on 24th October. STADIAWORLD takes a look at the special features and noteworthy aspects of the venues. With the NBA Summer League a part of the NBA preseason took place in Las Vegas.
The new season of the world’s strongest ice hockey league started on 10th October. While it opened last season - as part of the NHL Global Series - in Prague, the opening game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Nashville Predators took place again on American soil. Now the NBA is also in the starting blocks with the Denver Nuggets versus Los Angeles Lakers.
With the "NBA Cup", which can be won as part of the new NBA In-Season Tournament, another highlight for the fans of the 30 franchises takes place parallel to league action. On 3rd November, the Cleveland Cavaliers will open the tournament at the Indiana Pacers. The tournament will be played in a group and knockout phase. All teams will compete against each other in six groups before the top eight advance to the deciding round. The Championship Game, including the two semi-finals, will be played on the second weekend of December at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Another title is up for grabs at the NBA All-Star Game. In 2024, the best players from the Eastern and Western Conferences will compete against each other in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis. The NHL, on the other hand, will hold its All-Star Game in Canada for the first time in over ten years. The best players of the NHL 2023/24 will play against each other on 3rd February at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
image: Sphere Entertainment
With its 19,685 seats, the venue for the All-Star Game is one of the largest in the league. The Scotiabank Arena also serves as a venue for both the Maple Leafs (NHL) and the Toronto Raptors (NBA). Further north in Canada, however, Is the NHL’s smallest venue located. In the hockey league, the Canada Life Center in Winnipeg holds this "title" with a capacity of 15,321, and the current venue of the Arizona Coyotes is even smaller. The franchise is temporarily playing in the Mullett Arena (5,000 seats). Actually, the plans for the new building in Tempe were advanced, but in May the plans were put on hold. A final solution is not yet in sight for the Coyotes.
In the NBA, even 17,071 spectators fit into the smallest arena in the league (Footprint Center, Phoenix). At the other end of the scale, the United Center in Chicago (20,917 seats) and the Bell Center in Montreal (21,302 seats) are venues whose capacity can compete with professional football stadiums.
Financially, too, new "records" are regularly set for buildings in the USA. Accordingly, the most recent arena in both leagues is also the most expensive: the construction costs for the UBS Arena in New York, the new home of the NY Islanders, opened in 2021, were over 1.3 billion euros. However, this title could soon pass to the new arena of the LA Clippers. The Intuit Dome - currently under construction - is said to have cost more than 1.8 billion euros when completed. The Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Warriors, cost more than 1 billion euros to open in 2019, when the arena made headlines for being the most expensive exclusively privately financed venue in the two indoor leagues. So, for once, the American taxpayer did not have to help pay.
The MSG continues to have a unique selling point
A now common way to refinance these high costs is through naming rights. In fact, 60 of the 61 venues in the NHL and NBA have signed naming rights agreements. The differences, however, are quite serious: while crypto.com pays over 30 million euros per year for the naming rights of the arena in Los Angeles, according to media reports, the Chicago Bulls receive only about 1.5 million euros annually for the United Center and the San Jose Sharks 2.8 million euros for the SAP Center. How big the lead of the home venue of the Lakers, Clippers (both NBA) and Kings (NHL) is shown by the fact that with the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (25.9 million euros annually) there is only one other venue that earns more than 16 million euros per year per naming rights deal.
Ice Hockey in the Madison Square Garden.
image: STADIAWORLD
The NHL Stadium Series will take place in MetLife Stadium.
image: STADIAWORLD