” Thank you Lille. ” Sober, FIBA's thanks targets the public of the world capital of basketball for a good week. Where no less than 876,686 spectators were counted within the Pierre Mauroy stadium (27,360 seats), i.e. an occupancy rate of approximately 92% for 36 men's and women's matches.
In detail, the men's competition attracted more (466,053 fans in total or 25,983 on average) than the women's competition (410,633 fans for an average of 22,813 people).
But the women's basketball players can boast some of the biggest attendances of the competition, including a record 27,193 people in attendance for the clash between France and Australia. The women's matches between Spain and China, and Canada and Nigeria also attracted more than 27,000 fans.
In the men's game, the Americans have consistently surpassed that symbolic bar, which is 10,000 more people than the least-watched first-round match between Serbia and Puerto Rico (17,882).
Another 200,000 people
Overall, as mentioned a week ago, this edition of Paris 2024 is still on track to seize the Olympic attendance record for basketball, held by the Atlanta 1996 Games. The latter, relying on its SuperDome (30,000 seats), attracted 1,068,032 spectators over the 92 matches played (i.e. 40 more than during this 2024 edition).
Before reaching the capital, the competition was short of around 191,000 fans to beat this record. Which seems quite feasible with the 16 matches scheduled at the Bercy Arena, which has a capacity of around 13,000. The first quarter-final between Greece and Germany recorded 12,288 people.
So, barring a cataclysm or unless the Parisian public turns their noses up at the events, 200,000 additional people should be registered this week to beat the record. To those in Paris, Lille did their job in setting the record, now it's up to you to bring it home “, FIBA demands bluntly.
Photo FIBA.com
