The San Antonio Spurs saw a total of 68,323 attendees at the team’s return to the Alamodome over the weekend – a record for an NBA regular-season game.
As the side celebrated its 50th anniversary season, they returned to their former home to face the Golden State Warriors, coming away with 113-144 loss.
“Yeah, that’s pretty different,” San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s a situation where you know … are they selling alcohol? I think that people will be pretty fired up. It is just an exciting moment for everybody.
“It is nostalgic for everybody. To have that many people in one building, to be able to play in front of them, is pretty damn exciting, actually. We hope it is a good game.”
The new figure breaks the previous record of 62,046 people who gathered to watch Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls play the Atlanta Hawks at the Georgia Dome on 27 March 1998.
San Antonio now plays its home games at the AT&T Center but returned to the Alamodome as part of the franchise’s 50th anniversary celebration.
The Spurs played in the Alamodome from 1993 to 2002 before moving 3.1 miles south to the AT&T Center.