United open NBL24 with back-to-back sell out games

Back-to-back sell out games to start the season combined with huge membership numbers have Melbourne United poised for one of its biggest ever seasons in NBL24.

The excitement surrounding Victoria’s basketball powerhouse has been palpable for weeks, with the side’s season opening Throwdown XXI clash selling out nine days ahead of tip off.

This has carried over into United’s next home game at John Cain Arena, The Grassroots Game, which will bring together over 30 different junior clubs and associations from around the state to get in on the action and join the capacity crowd.

This will be the first time Melbourne United has sold out its first two home games of the season.

Making up nearly half of the crowd each of these first two rounds has been Melbourne United’s members, with over 5,000 supporters selling out nearly all of MU’s membership packages across all categories.

A beneficiary of all the support from United’s fans is Head Coach Dean Vickerman, who touched on his feelings surrounding the pair of sellouts and huge membership numbers.

"Playing in front of a sell-out crowd is something special, and to do that in each of our first two homes games is something that's not lost on myself or the team.

"We love our fans, they give us so much energy on game day, they're the ones going crazy and lifting us up after huge plays or when we need it.

"Seeing the member number surpass 5,000 is really cool. I want to see that number continue to rise until we're pushing to play in front of a sold-out crowd each and every night."

This comes after a bumper opening round for the NBL at large, which reportedly hosted close to 51,000 fans across Round 1.

The seven games broadcast from Thursday to Sunday also achieved more than 40% year-on-year increase in average audience on ESPN, via KAYO and Foxtel. 

“The demand and appetite for the NBL has never been higher and that is highlighted by these historic audience numbers for our opening round of games,” NBL CEO, David Stevenson, said.

“To be up more than 40 percent on last year shows the significant amount of awareness and traction we have generated, and the desire for elite basketball content in Australia and New Zealand.

“These numbers are tremendously encouraging, and when you consider the current growth trajectory of the League – there’s no doubting Basketball is one of the fastest growing sports.”