Whilst many of you will have read the news via various sources in the last couple of days, I’m still getting a lot of questions via facebook and twitter as to what is happening with tickets for the NBA World All-Star Classic tour. So it’s best to update you here on what the situation appears to be panning out as.
Unfortunately, the news is not good right now for Australian fans waiting to see NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant, Amar’e Stoudemire and Dwyane Wade in Melbourne. The latest news on the tour is that the first leg, through Puerto Rico, has been cancelled, with all later legs (including London, Macau and Melbourne) being postponed until at least late November.
Originally the Melbourne games were scheduled for 8 and 9 November.
This comes from ESPN:
The six-game, four-continent World All-Star Classic exhibition tour featuring two squads of All-Star NBA players is on hold, with Sunday’s scheduled game in San Juan, Puerto Rico, postponed indefinitely.
The other five games on the tour, scheduled for London, Macau and Australia, already had been pushed back until late November. There was hope the game in San Juan could be salvaged and serve as proof to the other venues and investors that Atlanta businessman Cal Darden and his son, Cal Jr., were capable of pulling off the event.
Cal Darden Sr. could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman told The Associated Press a new date for the San Juan game will be announced by Nov. 3.
…
It remained to be seen if the game in Puerto Rico and the rest of the tour would be resurrected in light of NBA commissioner David Stern canceling regular-season games through Nov. 30 after labor talks broke off Friday without a deal.
Tickets already had been selling briskly in Puerto Rico, sources close to the organizers said, but there were no provisions made for refunds if the event was canceled or postponed.
So we wait until tomorrow to see if a new date for the Puerto Rico game is announced, at which point the other cards in the deck should fall into place. The fact that NBA labour negotiations are running so poorly may well be an impetus towards the tour eventually being resurrected and the players filling their idle time with some basketball around the world.
Stay tuned for more details on dates and tickets as they emerge.
