53,000+ attend NBA House in London
The NBA’s free event, NBA House, that ran alongside this year’s Olympics at Jubilee Hall in Covent Garden, London, estimated today that it had over 53,000 visitors during its time in the capital.
It was the longest running NBA grassroots event in Europe offering 500sq.m of basketball activities (including a half-court set up for skills competitions) to showcase the excitement of the NBA.
Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade, Hall of Famer David Robinson as well as other past NBA legends were all in attendance as skills sessions and other workshops through the NBA Cares program were available for the public to try out. John Amaechi, former NBA star and England international, was also on hand taking time away from the BBC commentary booth to give advice.
“NBA House brought a first-hand NBA experience to fans of all ages here in the heart of London,” said Benjamin Morel, Senior Vice President, NBA Europe. “This interactive event captured the excitement of our league, teams, and players in a truly iconic location, hosting fans and guests from around the world in a celebration of our global sport.”
Social media played a big part of the event, with 20 million NBA fans connected through Facebook and also an interactive twitter wall that displayed live tweets sent to #nba and #nbahouse. At NBA House, fans were also able to share their photos and videos from the Cisco Slam Cam and the HP Trophy Lift with their friends on Facebook and via email.
Other big names who visited NBA House were NBA Legends Dikembe Mutombo and Christian Laettner, the recently retired footballer Fabrice Muamba and ex-Arsenal legend Patrick Vieria, Team GB’s Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Kieron Achara and Dominique Allen, as well as three-time American Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Additional activations and partner activities at NBA House included an adidas NBA product showcase of all 30 teams, an on-site NBA pop-up store managed by new partner Kitbag, a BBVA NBA display wall, Gatorade clinics for local basketball clubs, and VIP catering by Bilbao tourism.
NBA House was brought to life by partner agencies Ignite, who managed the production of the venue, and Flourish, who provided the creative design and lay-out for NBA House.
