Just a heads up: If anyone out there is looking for a 12,000 seat basketball arena, the London Olympics organizers have one they’re not using anymore. And they’d like to unload it for a decent price. Or you can probably just buy it for parts.
The arena was temporarily erected in Olympic Park to house the basketball events, both won by Team USA. However, the gold medal games were held at the seemingly more permanent O2 Arena, which was also the site of a game between the Knicks and Pistons just last week. Now the company responsible for all the temporary venues in London this summer, Slick Seating, is dismantling the circus tent until they find a buyer.
The Rio organizers are actually trying decide if it’s worth transporting of an entire arena the roughly 5,700 miles across the Atlantic, but there’s also some restrictions on the import of second-hand materials into Brazil, so they’ll likely just end up buying one of their own. Or finding one in the Craigslist locals.
Unfortunately, it will probably be difficult to find a buyer for the arena anywhere in the Great Britain, since the national team has decided to pull any and all funding from the basketball program.
