Sheffield Sharks lose in season opener as work progresses on new arena

Yuri Matischen the Chairman of Sheffield Sharks, pictured at the Institute of Sport, Sheffield. Picture: Simon Hulme

Sheffield Sharks tipped off the new BBL season in front of a capacity crowd of 1,000 at Ponds Forge last night but this time next year will be playing at their own arena.

Work has begun on what will be a 2,500-seater arena that will form part of a medical diagnostic centre by Canon Medical Systems on the Olympic Legacy Park in Attercliffe.

The opening date is August 2023. It is something the Sharks have worked long and hard for and could be a gamechanger for the club - and the sport - in the city and beyond.

"It’s been seven years of ups and downs,” said club owner Yuri Matischen. “But finally we have people, sponsors and partners who believe in what we do, they see the community impact and that’s led to the investment from our commercial partners.

"This is a commercial investor coming forward and bringing with it a fantastic medical and diagnostic centre, so the impact of our arena is way beyond just what the Sharks and basketball do.

"From our point of view it means we can play when we want, we can train when we want. We can bring on our own talent and nurture it, such that they can train in the morning and they can train in the afternoon. It will be a mini eastern European model, where people can play basketball every day. That’s the huge difference between our country and eastern Europe and America where they’re training twice a day. Build that up over 10 years – why are they more talented? We’ve never been able to do that, now we can. Talent will out because of that.”

Sharks – who lost 86-73 to London Lions last night and visit Manchester Giants tomorrow, have also tendered an application to become a national academy alongside Sheffield Hatters women’s team. “We want to see the game grow in the women’s and men’s side,” he said.

"We’ve got 400 registered juniors 11 months before we open the arena, up from 200, so it’s already having an impact. By the time we open the doors we could be looking at a membership of 600-700 players.

"Not everyone’s going to be a pro player, but if they love the game, play the game, we can create a community of basketball followers. Can you imagine the impact we’re going to have as a sport on the health and wellbeing of our communities?”