Adelaide 36ers - Home Arena

Home Arena

Between 1982 and 1991 the home court of the Eagles/36ers was the old 3,000 seat Apollo Stadium which had been built in 1969. From 1985 home games were always a sell-out for the 36ers but going into the 1990's Apollo seen as too small, not only the 36ers but the NBL also as the league was experiencing a boom in attendances (the first game of the 1986 Grand Final series drew over 11,000 to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre), the 36ers and the BASA built a new home arena which opened in 1992. Initially it was thought the 36ers would move into the 11,000 seat Adelaide Entertainment Centre which opened in 1991 but both the club and BASA wanted their own venue.

The then named Clipsal Powerhouse which has an official capacity of 8,000 was and still is the largest purpose built basketball stadium in Australia. Clipsal would sponsor the venue until the end of 2001-02, after which it became known as the Distinctive Homes Dome in recognition of the sponsorship from Distinctive Homes.

The Dome has been without a naming rights sponsor since mid-2009 but on 7 February of that year before a crowd of 7,800 fans the main court was named in honor of retiring longtime club captain Brett Maher who made his 36ers debut at the Powerhouse in 1992 and played all of his 526 NBL games for the club. That day the 36ers, led by Maher who scored 17 points in his last ever home game, defeated the New Zealand Breakers 102-91. The venue is now known as the Adelaide Arena or the Brett Maher Court.

The Adelaide Arena is currently the fifth largest venue used in the National Basketball League behind the 12,000 seat Perth Arena, the 10,517 seat Sydney Entertainment Centre, the 10,500 seat Hisense Arena in Melbourne and the 9,300 seat Vector Arena in Auckland. Despite recent poor performances from Adelaide, the team continues to be at or near the top in NBL average attendance figures.