Officials producing an NBA preseason game Friday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, expect a sellout crowd of 18,000 at the city’s year-old arena and would like to see the island get a regular-season game and the All-Star Game.
“We have hopes of making this a three-year program,” said Alberto Perez, vice president of sales and marketing for Gianfi, the local promoter staging the game at SMG-operated Coliseo de Puerto Rico.
The facility, designed by HOK Sport and built for $240 million, would welcome the opportunity to play host to an All-Star Game, said Dale Adams, the arena’s general manager.
“That time of year [in February] is peak around here, but I anticipate a few more hotels being built.” Adams said.
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| The Coliseo de Puerto Rico, operated by SMG, will play host to the Heat and Grizzlies. |
The site of the 2008 All-Star Game, the next to be awarded, will be announced next year. Puerto Rico’s hopes are buoyed by the NBA’s strategy of expanding its international footprint.
There’s a precedent for scheduling the All-Star Game in a nonleague market after the NBA decided to play the 2007 game in Las Vegas, said Peter Fink, NBA Entertainment vice president of events and attractions.
“It is safe to say that it is not a requirement for the all-star events to be hosted by an NBA city or even in the U.S.,” Fink said.
About 16,000 tickets had been sold for the Memphis Grizzlies-Miami Heat exhibition as of last week. The demand shows the appetite for the sport among the country’s 2.5 million residents, Perez said.
Ticket prices range from $40 in the upper deck to $250 for courtside seats.
“As big as baseball was here with the Expos [who played 22 games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium each season in 2003 and 2004], the NBA is bigger,” Adams said.
The NBA also contracted with Gianfi to produce a Heat preseason game in 2003, which sold out 9,000-seat Roberto Clemente Coliseum, Fink said.
“This is a good market for us … and we have more flexibility with a bigger building,” Fink said. “In some capacities, it’s like an NBA building.”
Event Merchandising Inc., the arena’s retail vendor, produced a special-event T-shirt and hat for the game, and the concessionaire anticipates the merchandise per cap to be $4 to $5, said Jeff Simpson, the company’s Charlotte-based sales representative.
“Normally, for a preseason game [in an NBA city] you get 5,000 to 6,000 people and a $1 to $2 per cap,” Simpson said.
