When it comes to basketball in Asia, there's huge attention this year being paid to the 2023 FIBA World Cup host nations at present. While normally countries like the US, Canada, Spain, and Croatia take the lion's share of attention for their athletic prowess in the sport, all eyes are now on Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines as they prepare to host this year's competition.
The tournament is huge-even for fans who don't normally follow the NBA, NCAA, or FIBA. The expansion of sports betting is partly to thank for this added popularity. Today, fans are able to easily access deals from FanDuel and other sportsbooks, which they can use on their favorite leagues, or explore new ones.
When it's time for international competitions, there's even more intrigue involved. And one component that bettors will study is the different host arenas. Each will offer different challenges and benefits for competitors, including capacity and noise level. Let's explore three arenas scheduled to host in each country.
Philippine Arena
Located just outside the capital of Manila, the Philippine Arena isn't just the biggest location hosting the World Cup-it's the world's largest indoor arena. Able to welcome 55,000 spectators, FIBA participants can expect a massive turnout and plenty of noise when playing here.
The arena has hosted other FIBA competitions as well, including qualifiers for the World Cup. Any teams that played their qualifiers here will have a slight advantage. After all, it's not quite as intimidating to step into a massive arena for a game if you've played there before.
Indonesia Arena
The brand-new Indonesia Arena, located in the capital of Jakarta, will be able to seat up to 16,500. However, the arena hasn't yet completed construction-and it isn't expected to be finished until June of this year. That gives organizers only two months to transform the arena into a FIBA-caliber host arena. It's expected that by July, the Indonesia Arena will have promotional videos and photos available for FIBA fans in order to start generating excitement.
Okinawa Arena
Okinawa Arena opened its doors back in 2020-and architects already had their eye on international events like the FIBA World Cup. In fact, the arena was purposefully built with basketball as the focus. It's set to become the home arena for the Ryukyu Golden Kings, one of the top teams in Japan's domestic league. Because of this, fans can expect a basketball-centric experience-and the chance to step foot in a B.League arena.
