How a Kylie Minogue concert can deny NBL side Perth Wildcats home advantage
In what could be a first in Australian basketball hory, ten-time National Basketball League (NBL) champions Perth Wildcats could miss playing their finals game at their regular venue RAC Arena due to an upcoming concert of singer Kyle Minogue. The Wildcats, who are currently placed third in NBL, can feature in a home final next week if they maintain their third spot or placed fifth after their regular season match against Adelaide 36ers at RAC Arena on Friday this week. With the concert happening on February 15 and the stadium hosting a Bryan Adams concert on Sunday followed Minogue’s team overtaking the stadium for a week , the most successful side in NBL hory could be forced to play their home final games at the much smaller capacity Perth High Performance Centre stadium in Perth on Tuesday next week.
“I’m super disappointed and angry. We are an anchor tenant at RAC Arena and are having to play at a sub-par venue as a result. I’m really frustrated with RAC Arena given they have booked such a big period of time during our finals series. They should not have booked this period time for a booking anywhere during this finals series,” Wildcats owner Mark Arena told The West Australian on Monday.
The Wildcats have 17 wins and 11 losses in 28 matches and are currently placed third in the points table. The ten-time champions have a chance to finish second on the leaderboard if they beat 36ers and hope second-placed Melbourne United suffer a big loss against South East Melbourne on Sunday. In that case, Wildcats will qualify for the semi-finals and will be playing at RAC Arena later than February 15. If the Wildcats finish fourth, they would be playing on an away court and if they finish third, they will be required to play at home in the format where teams ranking third to sixth spot decide the other two semi-finals. The club also has a total of 10,837 members and their last four matches at RAC Arena have seen crowds in excess of 12500. In comparison, the Perth High Performance Centre has a crowd capacity of 4500. “We give them a lot of money. It’s nothing against Kylie. I’d love to go to her show, but I am super frustrated. We are in the finals, we’ve worked really hard all season. We are deserving of home court advantage and because of their scheduling it is not going to happen. It’s pretty close to locked in. If we finish third we will host the first play-in and as it stands now, the likelihood is on Tuesday night we will play at the Perth HPC. We’re going to have to go out to our members and say first come, first served, unfortunately.” Arena said.
The RAC Arena, which is owned Western Australia State government, was opened in 2012 and has seen Wildcats, netball team West Coast Fever as its major tenants. The stadium hosted its first concert in the form of a Minogue concert in 2015 and has played hosts to multiple concerts since then. The Wildcats last played at Perth High Performance Centre in the 2011-12 season and have been playing at RAC Arena since then. “I think it is a disadvantage. How big I am not sure. Perth HPC is a small intimate venue. We have a 9-5 record at RAC Arena this season. We haven’t played at Perth HPC for more than a decade. It’s not ideal. But I imagine being small and intimate with 4000 4500 fans, it will still be a home court advantage.” said Arena.
