Paris Basketball is playing its first match of the season at home this Thursday evening (8:45 p.m.), the first at the Adidas Arena (Paris XVIII) since the French champion title at the end of June against Monaco. The Monegasques will also be back here on Sunday for a first round of Betclic Élite.
This Thursday is also for the team of new coach Francesco Tabellini, the first of its 19 Euroleague duels in the capital after a defeat at Fenerbahçe in Istanbul (96-77) and a success in Belgrade against Maccabi Tel Aviv (101-94).
If for the occasion you are among the 8,000 spectators expected for the match against the Italians Virtus Bologna, we give you some advice: go to the cinema first and see “Tron: Ares” released on screens this October 8 to get in the mood.
“We have a partnership for this match with Disney and there will be a lot of entertainment linked to the film,” explains Julien Jalouzet, the marketing director of Paris Basketball. The impression will be visual with light effects that will match the colors of the blockbuster. Each spectator will receive, upon arrival, a red and black luminous bracelet.
The big-eared firm, which from 2013 to 2020 hosted the Leader’s Cup at Disneyland Paris, rarely marries with a sports club. For Paris Basket, this is a unique opportunity. “We have a long-term partnership with AlloCiné,” continues Julien Jalouzet. The platform sometimes comes to us to promote certain films and it is for this evening, a tripartite agreement between them, Disney and us. It is therefore possible that in the future, we will carry out other operations around other films, not necessarily Disney. »
So much for “Tron,” part of the cast of which could also take place in the front row of the Adidas Arena.
But that’s not the only surprise awaiting fans this Thursday evening. Among the expected VIPs whose list has not yet been finalized, another is large and you will have to raise your head to see it full face. It is a giant screen measuring 18 m by 10 m in 8K quality, which means an unrivaled resolution. It is placed high up to the left of the players’ bench, in place of the old, slightly outdated scoring table.
It is impossible to miss him and he is called upon to be used for entertainment before the match, during timeouts, at half-time. “We brought in our first subscribers a few days ago to find out and they all left with one word on their lips: wow! It’s frankly visually very impressive, the quality of the image is just spectacular,” says the marketing boss.
There is only one equivalent in France, the same screen at the Futuroscope Arena in the park of the same name. The purchase of this huge screen is shared between the club, the venue manager and the Ile-de-France region.
Another new thing to look forward to this Thursday? Last season, Paris Basketball brought 42 French medalists from the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games to each match. The operation is not repeated but another one instead is planned each evening “and it promises to make noise” anticipates Julien Jalouzet who does not want to say more to preserve the element of surprise. “We worked on it a lot this summer and we don’t want to say anything for the effect to be complete,” he insists. “It’s going to be a hit and give people the opportunity to see things they don’t usually see.”
To further spice up the already exciting evening, two new banners will be raised under the roof of the Arena: those marking the championship title and the victory in the Coupe de France which will join those raised last year for the victory in the Eurocup and the Leaders Cup. “We actually had three with that of the rise of Pro B (in 2021). But we dropped it because it became less relevant to what we have accomplished since,” smiles the marketing director.
And the price of the entrance ticket in all this? It remains unchanged from last season. A year during which with a occupancy rate of more than 90%, the ticket office brought in nearly 14 million euros. “Paris Basketball,” says Julien Jalouzet, “is recognized as a club that puts on a show around a basketball match. But as others are also doing things well, we must continue to innovate in this avenue of entertainment that is so popular. We tell ourselves that if we don’t move, if we always do the same thing, we will inevitably be overwhelmed. And then, many of our subscribers (around 2,000 to date) were already there last year and out of respect for them, we also want to offer them new products so they never get bored. »
