The Parisian club and the German equipment manufacturer want to make their future residence, the Adidas Arena, a basketball hub in Europe.
Dream bigger. Founded in 2018, engaged in Betclic Elite since the 2021-22 season, Paris Basketball is quickly moving through the stages. This is evidenced by his ambition for his future residence, the Adidas Arena, which is due to open at Porte de la Chapelle before the 2024 Olympic Games. It was named after the German equipment manufacturer which has sponsored the club since 2019. he occasion of a press conference organized Thursday on the construction site, David Kahn, the American president of the Parisian club, and Mathieu Sidokpohu, general manager of Adidas for southern Europe, announced the objective of making this room “the epicenter of European basketball».
«Ask the equipment manufacturers, the NBA, the Euroleague, Fiba. Everyone will tell you that the city of Paris is the epicenter of European basketball. This Adidas Arena is the epicenter of the epicenter“says David Kahn, quite proud of the idea of leaving the Halle Georges Carpentier and its 2,400 seats to come and settle in this brand new 8,000-seat enclosure. We would almost forget that the Olympic basketball tournament of the Olympic Games, relocated to Villeneuve d’Ascq for the first round before returning to the Accor Arena, will not even be played there. But also that before becoming this “number 1 destination for all basketball lovers” Or “all French teams will dream of playing», the Adidas Arena was designed, like its big sister in Bercy, as a multi-purpose hall.
The main feature of the building is basketball.
David Kahn
The badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events during the Paris Olympic Games will take place there, as well as concerts, MMA competitions and e-sport events. As Nicolas Dupeux, director of the Paris Entertainment Company (PEC) which brings together the Accor Arena, the Bataclan and the Adidas Arena, reminds us, the site must “live 365 days a year and participate in the transformation of the neighborhood“, through in particular its two “nearby gyms» built for local residents. “We accept it allloose David Kahn, former president of basketball operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA. But we firmly believe that the main feature of the building is basketball. Paris Basketball will play 35 matches there per year. And one day, maybe, a women’s team.»
Adidas, which lends its name to a sports arena for the first time in its history, shares this ambition. “It’s crazy what we do together with Paris Basketball. From a sporting point of view, the progress made by David and his team is spectacular, well ahead of the objectives we had set.“, welcomes Mathieu Sidokpohu. Beyond all the benefits in terms of sales and notoriety for the brand with the three stripes, naming the future home of the Parisian club after him was a “evidence».
Adidas rather than Alice Milliat
It was not, on the other hand, for some of the elected members of the Council of Paris who voted for this marketing operation. “We’re missing out on the story“, had lamented in July Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj (PCF), who campaigned for the enclosure to bear the name of Alice Milliat, former swimmer, hockey player and rower, pioneer of women’s sport in the first half of the 20th century. His name was eventually given to the esplanade in front of the arena, as well as to a foundation with which Adidas created an endowment fund. 180,000 euros per year will be earmarked for “inclusion projects through sport, mainly with womenexplains Mathieu Sidokpohu. Our belief is that sport can change lives. Everything that we are going to build with Paris Basketball is very important for young people.»