The Okinawa Arena, also provisionally known as the Okinawa City Multi-Purpose Arena, is an indoor arena in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It was opened in 2020 and will be one of the venues of the

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament will be the second to feature 32 teams. For the first time in its history, the World Cup will be ...

Background

Plans to build the Okinawa arena were made as early as 2015. In 2016, it was announced that the sports venue will be built over the site occupied by the Okinawa City bullfighting ring next to the Koza Sports Park. Sachiyo Kuwae, the city mayor, unveiled the master plan for the 10,000-person-capacity multipurpose arena on 12 July 2016. The facility will have five stories above ground and will have a parking area for 1,000 vehicles. The Okinawa Arena will have a total area of . Its estimated total cost, including its parking facilities, is 17 billion yen. Demolition of the bullfighting ring was planned to commence in 2017 and was followed by the construction of the arena building itself. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 25, 2018 and is planned to open by September 2020.

Use

The Okinawa Arena is planned to be the home venue of the

Ryukyu Golden Kings is a Japanese professional basketball team based in Okinawa City, Okinawa. They compete in the B.League, the top-tier professional basketball league of Japan. Honours Domestic *bj league champions: 4 **2009, 2012, 2014, 2016 *Conference cham ...

professional basketball team and is also set to host major events in Okinawa City. It will be Japan's sole venue in the

which will also be co-hosted by the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

References

External links

* Okinawa, Okinawa Sports venues in Okinawa Prefecture Basketball venues in Japan Ryukyu Golden Kings Sports venues completed in 2020 2020 establishments in Japan {{B.LeagueArena