NBL Record Crowd Packs Game 3

Sunday, March 12, 2023

An NBL record crowd has piled into Qudos Bank Arena on Friday night, with 18,049 fans in attendance for Game 3 of the Championship Series.

An NBL record crowd has piled into Qudos Bank Arena on Friday night, with 18,049 fans in attendance for Game 3 of the Championship Series.

The huge turnout is the biggest in the League's history, surpassing the previous record mark of 17,514, set in 2019.

It's an incredible sign of the growth of the NBL, with overall attendances this season the highest they've been since 1996.

Highest NBL crowds
18,049 - Sydney Kings v New Zealand Breakers - 2023
17,514 - Sydney Kings v Illawarra Hawks - 2019
17,143 - Sydney Kings v Canberra Cannons - 1999
17,000 - West Sydney Razorbacks v Brisbane Bullets - 1999
16,149 - Sydney Kings v Tasmania JackJumpers - 2022

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">? ???????? ??????? ?<br><br>Tonight's crowd is the biggest in NBL history - and the first time we've had over 18,000 people in the house for a game of Aussie hoops ?<br><br>Thank you to everyone who continues to support this competition ?? <a href="https://t.co/446BMXFShw">pic.twitter.com/446BMXFShw</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1634131005253783553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

"It was awesome, and gosh, that whole second half you could just feel them (the fans) every play ... it was just loud," Kings coach Chase Buford said.

"The dunk by Tim (Soares) felt like the roof just came off - it was fun to be a part of."

DJ Vasiljevic said it was a special game to be involved in.

"It was unreal," he said.

"Today was the loudest I've ever been a part of. I've played in some pretty big gyms, but that overrides everything."