Spark to Add Seats for Breakers Fan Boom

The New Zealand Breakers are in line to once again sell out Spark Arena in the NBL Championship Series, with the club set to extend the eastern stand on the floor level to pack in as many fans as possible.

A massive 6700 tickets had been sold to the Game 4 clash between New Zealand and Sydney after just 24 hours following on from the capacity crowd of 8903 last Sunday.

The addition of the extra seats means the Breakers are likely to exceed their all-time attendance record of 9330, which was set in the 2013 Championship Series.

“We’ve said to Spark there’s unprecedented demand, what can we do,” Breakers chief operating officer Lisa Edser told Stuff.co.nz. “We floated it last week, but they wanted to see how the venue, our staff and their staff managed with the big number we had for that game.

“They’ve worked through the logistics of getting it all done in terms of timing because they have a Backstreet Boys concert on Saturday night.

“They can manage it, they’ve secured extra staff to do that pack-in. We’re still working through the seating map but it’s around another 600 seats.

“Our goal is 9740.”

BUY: Game 3 tickets in Sydney | Game 4 tickets in New Zealand

If the Breakers reach that target number of 9740 fans it will mark just the fifth occasion the club has had over 9000 fans attend a home game, and it would double as the highest attendance for a game of basketball in the country’s history.

All the previous records were set during the golden era of Breakers basketball, when the side won four championships in five seasons and boasted established stars like Kirk Penney, Cedric Jackson and CJ Bruton.

“The performance on court is always going to be the focus, but this is an incredible achievement for the whole organisation.” Edser said.

“It also shows we have kept that connection with our fans, and we have maintained the values and mana around the Breakers.

“To see the boys lift that trophy at home would be an incredible result for everybody.”

Before the Breakers host the potentially decisive Game 4 on Sunday, New Zealand travels to Sydney to take on the Kings in Game 3 of the NBL23 Championship Series, live on Friday, March 10 on ESPN via Kayo Freebies at 7:30pm AEDT, and live on SkySport and Prime in New Zealand. 

BUY: Game 3 tickets in Sydney | Game 4 tickets in New Zealand