By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
BOLOGNA, Italy – Thinking about places where to play basketball in Europe today, buildings like the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas, the Stark Arena in Belgrade, or the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv immediately stand out.
While the first two are pretty much new constructions, the Israeli Mecca of basketball was built in 1963, resulting in one of the oldest arenas where EuroLeague basketball will be played in the 2023-24 season. Not the oldest, though: PalaDozza in Bologna saw the light in 1956, being recognized soon as the “little Madison” for its similarity to the New York Knicks‘ home ground, just a few minutes walking from Bologna’s city center.
Virtus Bologna will start its Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign against Zalgiris Kaunas there, and – waiting for the new Virtus Segafredo Arena, whose project was presented in late March and that will be ready between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 – will be forced to spend his whole month of October in the old building, because their homecourt is currently occupied by conventions in BolognaFiere.
While they’ve already experienced the current EuroLeague atmosphere after coming back to the major European competition last year, finally listening to the “I Feel Devotion” anthem in PalaDozza against AS Monaco in a buzzing atmosphere, this season the feelings are way different.
Don’t get me wrong: the way PalaDozza is built, giving the whole audience the opportunity to experience the game well, even from the most distant seat from the parquet, is unique and likely unbeatable in the European landscape. But there are a bunch of different reasons why EuroLeague can’t be played here anymore.
Things have to change in PalaDozza, for everyone’s sake
An old basketball arena brings history to its walls, memories from the past, and emotional senses. But mostly, if you don’t take care of it, it immediately gives you the sensation you’re playing in a whole different world than, for example, what you’re used to seeing in the Lithuanian Zalgirio Arena.
Waiting to see how the wireless infrastructure will work on the opening night against Zalgiris Kaunas, the structural problems are all there. The media working area in PalaDozza – which is still Fortitudo Bologna’s home in the Italian second division – is barely usable, while the post-game press conference room is surrounded by what looks like a worksite scenario.
Both the mixed zone and the tunnel from where players access that historic court looked like they hadn’t been touched for years, and the same situation comes out year by year.
Despite this being only a temporary solution – considering Virtus Bologna will play in this court only for the month of October, facing Zalgiris Kaunas, ALBA Berlin, and Crvena Zvezda in the EuroLeague, Varese and Dinamo Sassari in the LBA – it may really represent a problem.
The consequences are already here, by the way. The female squad of Virtus, which debuts tonight in the EuroLeague Women against Polkowice after winning the Italian Supercup, has already announced they won’t play in PalaDozza due to the conditions in which the arena stands at the moment, facing RMB Brixia Basket in the next LBF encounter elsewhere, being hosted by Cento.
To sum it up, as the article’s title says, we all love to witness basketball and its atmosphere in such a historic place, in which you can breathe the EuroLeague devotion. However, things have to change, for everyone’s sake: the players, the teams, and the journalists. For the city of Bologna, most of all.
PHOTO CREDIT: Virtus Segafredo Bologna