Christchurch has underlined its love for basketball with confirmation the Sky Sport Breakers are returning to the Garden City to play two NBL games this season.
It extends a long-standing relationship with the Canterbury Rams spanning back to the Breakers’ inaugural season in 2003/04.
The games have been made possible through the financial support of Christchurch Casino.
“Christchurch Casino is very proud of our support of the Canterbury Rams which has led to the Sky Sport Breakers playing these two games in Christchurch,” says Chief Executive Brett Anderson.
“We would like to thank the Sky Sport Breakers for this wonderful opportunity.”
“We are thankful for all of the support the Christchurch Casino has given basketball over the years. The Canterbury community will have high level international basketball entertainment thanks to the backing of the Christchurch Casino”, said Canterbury Rams and Mainland Pouākai General Manager, Caleb Harrison.
“Two great games in the city over December and January will bring Breakers fans all over the country to Christchurch Arena.”
The first game will be on Thursday, 1st December, against the South East Melbourne Phoenix – the former club of off-season Breakers recruits Izayah Le’afa and Cam Gliddon.
A month later, Tall Black Shea Ili will bring his star-studded Melbourne United crew to Christchurch for a Thursday, 12th January encounter.
Breakers’ 2015 Championship-winning coach Dean Vickerman is at the helm of United and lead them to the NBL title last year.
“Christchurch Arena has become something of a fortress for our club and hopefully, it continues this season,” says Sky Sport Breakers General Manager Simon Edwards.
“We beat the 36ers there by 18 points last year; the season before, we had two nail-biting wins against the Phoenix.
We haven’t beaten the Phoenix since our last visit to Christchurch in 2020, so we are due a win against them on 1st December.”
Christchurch Casino will have accommodation, ticket & entertainment packages available for fans travelling from outside of Christchurch. Tickets & packages available from the 17th October