The Perth Wildcats are reeling after being kicked off their home court for Tuesday’s NBL final due to a booking clash with pop star Kylie Minogue.
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Minogue will play at the 13,5000-seat RAC Arena next Saturday but the Perth venue has been locked out for the entire week in preparation, leaving the Wildcats homeless for the start of their NBL finals run.
Wildcats owner Mark Arena took to social media to vent his frustrations, admitting the club “got screwed” when sent to the smaller Perth HPC venue – at a cost of almost $500,000 to the club.
“I’m super disappointed, super mad. We’re the anchor tenant there (at RAC Arena),” Arena said in a statement.
“You do really well on the ladder and you want a home-court advantage.”
The venue shift means almost 10,000 Wildcats fans will be shut out from attending the NBL seeding qualifier final against South East Melbourne Phoenix on Tuesday – even though Minogue’s concert isn’t until Saturday.
“I feel really bad for them (club members) and I’m just as mad as they are,” Arena said.
“It was quite a heated conversation with RAC Arena.
“I’m super frustrated with it, we’re supposed to be the anchor tenant there and I don’t feel like we’re being treated that way.
“Kylie is coming to town … RAC Arena in their infinite wisdom has decided, we’re going to book the whole of the first week of finals out at RAC Arena.”
The Wildcats will instead play at their former home (known as Challenge Stadium and then more recently as HBF Stadium) which seats just 4000.
Perth haven’t played at that venue in more than a decade, with their last match back in 2012.
Arena, who was only informed of the schedule clash “a couple of weeks ago”, said the club would not be compensated for their loss of ticket revenue.
The Wildcats booked their place in the finals after finishing third on the ladder with a win over the Adelaide 36ers on Friday night.
They then had to wait on Melbourne United’s clash with South East Melbourne Phoenix to determine final ladder positions to see if they would host a final.
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Wildcats coach John Rillie said the players would keep their focus on the match – regardless of the venue clash.
“The seeding will take care of itself – and we end up where we end up,” he said after his side’s win on Friday night.
“We just have to embrace what lies ahead from that.”
Remarkably, should the Wildcats lose that seeding qualifier match, they’d then play a sudden death play-in final likely on the Sunday at RAC Arena – less than 24 hours after Minogue’s concert.
NBL FINALS
Seeding qualifier (3 v 4)
Wildcats host Phoenix
Tues Feb 11 from 9.30pm AEDT
Play-in qualifier (5 v 6)
Kings host 36ers
Thurs Feb 13 from 7.30pm AEDT
*Note: Winner of seeding qualifier plays Melbourne United (2) in a three-game finals series. Loser plays winner of Play-in qualifier for a spot in the three-game finals series against Illawarra Hawks (1).
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