Western Australia is in the box seat to retain HoopsFest for years to come as the NBL's festival event prepares to make its grand debut.
All 10 NBL teams will converge on Perth for round one of the season, with Melbourne United and Tasmania JackJumpers to kick things off with a grand final rematch at RAC Arena on Thursday night.
The four-day festival, which is similar to the AFL's Gather Round and the NRL's Magic Round, will also feature a WNBL pre-season tournament and an under-18s club championship.
An interactive fan zone, a Sneakerland exhibition, and sets from award-winning DJ Hayden James also form part of the HoopsFest itinerary.
The WA government is confident the event will be a success, and is keen to retain hosting rights beyond this year, much like what the South Australia government has done with Gather Round, and the Queensland government with Magic Round.
NBL chief executive David Stevenson said WA was in the box seat to host HoopsFest for the foreseeable future.
"We don't ever have that as an aspiration, for a bidding war (between governments)," Stevenson told reporters on Monday.
"We'd love nothing more than for HoopsFest to stay in Western Australian for the foreseeable future.
"We think it's a great basketball city, it's been embraced.
"Having an arena like RAC (Arena) that's really top-tier in this country and only getting better - that allows us to be able to showcase these events to the world with confidence."
The NBL has enjoyed remarkable growth in recent years.
Last year's average crowd of 7126 was a record for the league.
The total number of attendees through 154 games was 1,097,455 - only behind 1994 (1,127,033 in 198 games) and 1995 (1,097,678 in 201 games).
TV audiences were up 26 per cent on the previous season, and the exceptional talent in the league means the numbers are again predicted to be big.
"Last year we had 40 games that sold out. We'd love to see that number increase," Stevenson said.
"It was the highest average attendance in our history of the NBL.
"People talk about the glory days being the '90s. Well really, the glory days are the 2020s, because our metrics now are higher than they've ever been.
"We want to see that growth continue."
Stevenson confirmed the NBL will honour much-loved basketball figure Corey "Homicide'’ Williams this season.
Williams died this year at the age of 46.
"He's never far from our thoughts," Stevenson said.
"We are going to celebrate him. We're working with his family on the appropriate way to do that.
"It won't be at HoopsFest. But we will, over the course of this season, find a way to thank Corey for everything he's done for our league."
