Štark Arena, Belgrade
Featured image credit: Stark Arena/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size
EuroLeague basketball attracted the biggest crowds in its history during the 2022-23 regular season.
The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague saw an average of 8,748 spectators per game, which just bettered the previous record set during the 2019-20 campaign. A total of 2.67m fans attended games during the regular season, which concluded earlier this month.
More than half of the teams played in front of crowds of at least 80% capacity during the regular season and four of them were at 90%. Lithuania’s Zalgiris Kaunas and Israel’s Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv led the way in that category; those two teams had 96% of the seats filled for their home games at the 17,500-capacity Žalgiris Arena and 10,400-capacity Menora Mivtachim Arena respectively this season.
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade led the league in overall attendance, with 17,763 spectators per game while playing in front of 88% capacity at Štark Arena.
Six of the eight playoff teams boasted fill rates above 80% and five of the six teams that averaged more than 10,000 fans per game reached the playoffs.
A league spokesperson said: “All told, it was a banner year for the EuroLeague with a total of 2,668,148 fans in attendance to watch all the action unfold.”
Post-season games begin today (April 25) and run to the Final Four at the Žalgiris Arena from May 19-21.
Lithuania was awarded the event for the first time last December, with Paulius Motiejunas, Zalgiris Kaunas director, saying at the time: “The decision to hold the EuroLeague Final Four in Kaunas is the highest level of appreciation for the entire Zalgiris organisation. We have been striving for years to host this prestigious event in our country, so we are even more pleased that our efforts have been appreciated.
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