New Orleans to Host NBA All-Star Game

Professional basketball returns to New Orleans in grand style during the 2007-08 season with not only the return of the Hornets full-time, but also with the National Basketball Association’s 57th annual All-Star Game in 2008. Showcasing the top NBA hoopsters, the big game will be played on February 17 in the New Orleans Arena.

The announcement of the All-Star Game was made by NBA Commissioner David Stern on May 22, 2006, shortly after the Hornets finished up their second season “in exile” in Oklahoma City. Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the team could only play in the Arena for a limited number of games during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.

The All-Star Game will be televised on TNT in the United States and will reach a worldwide television audience in more than 200 countries. The game pits the top stars of the NBA’s Eastern Conference against those of the Western Conference. Since the series began in 1951, the Eastern Conference All-Stars lead the West 34–22. The Hornets play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. Players in the All-Star Game are selected by both the fans and team coaches.

Basketball’s return to the Crescent City is felt by most to be a major triumph, in the wake of the destruction that reduced the city’s population by more than half at its lowest ebb. Many people, including leading sports authorities, had been predicting that the Hornets’ brief, three-year stay in New Orleans was over, and no NBA team would ever return to the Arena, which was designed and built with basketball specifically in mind. However, prominent political and sports officials were determined not to let that happen, and they were fortunate enough to have Commissioner Stern in their corner from the beginning. 

In making the announcement, Stern said, “The award of NBA All-Star 2008 is our vote of confidence in the progress that is being made in the reopening and rebuilding of New Orleans’ tourism infrastructure. New Orleans will become the basketball capital of the world in February 2008, and demonstrate to a global audience that New Orleans is very much open for business.”

Sellout or near-sellout crowds for the Hornets’ few home games over the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons served to further convince the NBA and the nation that New Orleans was still very much a “basketball town.”

The 2008 event will mark the first time that the NBA All-Star Game will be held in New Orleans. This includes the years in the 1970s when the city hosted the New Orleans Jazz, which later moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. More NFL Super Bowls have been held in New Orleans than any other city and, in the summer of 2007, the Arena played host to Arena Bowl XXI – the “Super Bowl” of the Arena Football League.

A week long celebration, NBA All-Star, showcases NBA players’ passion for the game, engagement with fans, commitment to community and respect for the history and tradition of the game.

NBA All-Star 2008 competitions will tip off Friday, February 15, as the league’s top rookies and second-year players square off in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge. The excitement will continue the next day with NBA All-Star Saturday Night, including Shooting Stars, a competition featuring NBA and WNBA players and NBA legends; Skills Challenge, a contest of top guards working against the clock to complete a series of passes, long-range shots and agility drills; and the Three-Point Shootout, where six of the NBA’s best long-range shooters compete against each other and the clock in a test of three-point shooting accuracy. The evening’s grand finale, the Slam Dunk Contest, will showcase some of the NBA’s best athletes as they take to the air mystifying fans with their gravity-defying creativity.

One of the week’s most popular attractions, the 15th NBA All-Star Jam Session, the world's largest interactive basketball theme park, will be held at The Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Convention Center. Jam Session features over 450,000 square-feet of basketball entertainment for fans of all ages -- that's the equivalent of 48 official-size NBA basketball courts or 18 million regulation-size basketballs. At Jam Session, fans can test their basketball skills on over 30 unique attractions; compare their hand and shoe sizes with those of their favorite NBA players; compete against their friends at on-court skills challenges; watch youngsters slam dunk and hit three-pointers at the Kids Zone; and meet some of their favorite NBA and WNBA players and legends, celebrities and musical performers.

Jam Session also offers an extensive trading card and collectibles area; the NBA Store, where fans can purchase exclusive NBA and All-Star branded merchandise and Center Court, the home for NBA All-Star Entertainment where fans can watch NBA All-Star practices, NBA dance teams and mascots, celebrity and NBA and WNBA Players in a variety of shooting contests.

More information on the NBA All-Star Game at the New Orleans Arena, including ticket availability and pricing, will be made available as the event date gets closer.

by Dean Shapiro