NBA and NHL: Venue facts for the season openers

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.

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.

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.

The only venue without a sold naming-right is the venerable Madison Square Garden. As one of the most famous arenas in the world, it lives, among other things, from this very tradition. Since its opening in 1874 (or 1968 at its current location), Madison Square Garden has kept its original name. The only permitted synonym is probably "The World’s Most Famous Arena" in reference to the tradition of the venue and the multitude of spectacular events that have already taken place there; be it the first fight between Mohamed Ali and Joe Frazier in 1971 or concerts by greats like Billy Joel, Michael Jackson and Madonna. Today, the NY Rangers in the NHL and the NY Knicks in the NBA play their home games in Madison Square Garden. Incidentally, both have already won a league title in the arena.

The MSG is one of a total of ten venues shared by teams from both leagues. The already mentioned crypto. com Arena and Scotiabank Arena (Toronto Raptors, NBA and Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL) are among them, as are the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia (76ers and Flyers), the Little Ceasars Arena (Detroit Pistons and Redwings), the Ball Arena in Denver (Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche), the American Airlines Center (Dallas Mavericks and Stars), the TD Garden in Boston (Celtics and Bruins), the Capital One Arena (Washington Wizards and Capitals) and the United Center in Chicago (Bulls and Blackhawks).

While the trend for arenas is to turn them into multi-purpose venues and rent them out for concerts, business events and other things, the clubs seem to prefer to be the sole anchor tenants. For example, in addition to the LA Clippers, the Philadelphia 76ers are also planning a new building, where they would be the sole regular sports users. The Ottawa Senators also have plans to build a new arena in the LeBreton Flats district. The Oklahoma Thunder could also get a new arena, subject to the approval of the citizens. This would mean that the Thunder home games would remain until 2050. However, in addition to the "real" home games in the home venues, the teams also play some games not in the classic sense as home games.

The Global Series: A proven marketing concept

In addition to the "real" home games, however, the teams also play some games away from their traditional venue. As part of the National Hockey League’s Global Series, the franchises will play in Sweden this season: Between 16th and 19th November, the Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs will meet at Avicii Arena in Stockholm. Two games have already been played in Australia in the pre-season. The Arizona Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings played two preseason games in front of sold-out crowds as part of the NHL’s first trip to the southern hemisphere.

The NBA is also planning to play overseas games again, similar to the NHL split between pre-season and regular season games. With the Abu Dhabi Games in 2022, NBA games were held in the Arab world for the first time, and in 2023 they were again held in the Emirates. The regular-season game outside the USA and Canada will again take place in the Accor Arena in Paris in 2024. For the third time, two NBA teams, the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers, will meet in the French capital on 11th January 2024.

Similar to the "Overseas Games", the staging of some NHL games in stadiums has become a tradition. The New York Rangers and the New York Islanders as well as the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers will play this year’s games of the NHL Stadium Series. The venue will be MetLife Stadium in New York. The 2024 series will take place on 17th and 18th February. (STADIAWORLD, 23.10.2023)