It was announced, planned. It is now official. This Monday evening, Nanterre announced its big comeback for an event match at Paris La Défense Arena, the den of Racing rugby players and many concerts or spectacular shows. For this duel, scheduled for Sunday March 12, the players of Pascal Donnadieu will receive Asvel, the triple champion of France and one of the two tricolor ambassadors in the Euroleague. “It’s the assurance of a quality poster, specifies Frédéric Donnadieu, the president of Nanterre. It is an emblematic and historic club”.
It is also an undisguised nod to the first match played by Nanterre against this same opponent (81-80 victory at the last second) on… March 11, 2018. At the time, the room was still called the U Arena and the club had attracted 15,220 basketball fans or simply curious. This allowed him to enter the history books and set new attendance records for a basketball championship game and an indoor sport (handball or volleyball). “We always said we wanted to go back. Originally the idea was to go there every two years. But the Covid has changed everything, ”says Frédéric Donnadieu.
The Nanterriens therefore had to wait five years, almost to the day, before resting their parquet floor at Paris La Défense Arena, located less than 2 kilometers as the crow flies from its traditional Maurice-Thorez sports hall. “We are creating an event but we are not relocating because it is a room which is on the territory of Nanterre”, continues Donnadieu.
After months of health uncertainties with the obligation to play behind closed doors or respecting gauges, the year 2023 seems to bring guarantees to the club to “offer a sporting and event spectacle with an atmosphere worthy of an NBA match” . “We will try to innovate, to take advantage of the Arena’s technical installations, such as the new lighting, to offer a unique show, announces Frédéric Donnadieu. The idea is not necessarily to beat a new record (the hall has 16,000 seats) but to offer a special show in a room which is also special by its configuration. As 5 years ago, a spectacular mapping and four giant screens will allow spectators to feel at the heart of the action.
“Our wish was to offer a beautiful poster”
A new opportunity for Ile-de-France fans – but not only – to attend a basketball match in an exceptional setting after the recent relocation of Paris Basketball to the Roland-Garros stadium and its next two games to the Accor Arena. On the other hand, some will perhaps wonder – and will undoubtedly regret – that this match in the big theater of Hauts-de-Seine does not oppose Nanterre and its neighbor Boulogne-Levallois. The Mets who, faced with the popular enthusiasm around Victor Wembanyama, play all their matches behind closed doors and feel cramped in their Marcel-Cerdan sports hall in Levallois.
“It’s been months since we booked this date, it was before the end of last season and at the time Victor had not yet signed with Boulogne-Levallois, explains Frédéric Donnadieu… who was the first coach of Wemby in Nanterre. Our wish was to offer a good poster and the desire to play Asvel was logical (Wembanyama played for Asvel last season). There are no regrets even if, personally, and because of my relationship with him, it would have been great to play against Victor in such a place. But we have to do it a long time in advance. It’s a huge challenge, there’s a risk involved, but we’re all excited to embark on such a project. »