Perth Wildcats owner Mark Arena promises to play NBL regular season games in regional WA towns

Perth Wildcats are putting out a call to arms to regional towns to mount a case for hosting regular season games as early as next season amid looming changes to the NBL fixture. New owner Mark Arena wants to provide as many West Australians as possible with the opportunity to watch the team playing live while also giving regional centres an incentive to upgrade their basketball facilities for local residents. Arena wants towns from all around Western Australia to contact the club with proposals, opening the door for places such as Port Hedland, Karratha, Broome, Albany, Geraldton, Margaret River, Bunbury, Busselton and Kalgoorlie to have the NBL’s biggest names playing on their courts. “I want people to approach us with different options. We want the legacy of it to be that basketball facilities become so much better than they are,” Arena told The West Australian. “There is now a great opportunity for towns to have the Wildcats come for a game. It could be multiple games over multiple years. It’s all about improving basketball and taking it to regional areas. “I want the facilities to become a lot better than what they would be if we didn’t do this. We want to see what councils are thinking. “Friday night games are also not ideal for people who live regionally. We’ve done them in the pre-season before, but to do them in the season would be great. While we are the Perth Wildcats, I can put my hand on my heart and all of Western Australia is behind the team and we want to take the team to all of Western Australia.” WA already saw the benefit of the NBL and WNBL bringing every team to Perth for HoopsFest in September with a new video screen installed at RAC Arena, and the Perth High Performance Centre receiving significant upgrades. The AFL has also taken the regional path to games in WA with North Melbourne signing a deal to play one game at Bunbury’s Hands Oval for the next three years. Arena said the NBL will be increasing the number of regular season games in coming seasons which means playing regionally won’t reduce the number of matches played at RAC Arena. He doesn’t believe asking opposition teams to complete extra travel will be an issue, saying interstate flights are already available to plenty of locations. “It would be no worse than us having to fly to New Zealand,” he said. The Wildcats will fly to New Zealand on Saturday morning to prepare for Sunday’s clash against the Breakers. It will be Perth’s fifth consecutive away game in a row due to RAC Arena being unavailable while the United Cup tennis is being played. The club’s next home game isn’t until January 17.