The National Basketball Association will stage a regular-season contest in Manchester for the first time in 2027, expanding the league’s European footprint to Britain’s north, officials from the NBA, Co-op Live and Manchester City Council announced.
Details on the matchup and exact date will be released before the 2026-27 schedule is finalized, along with ticket information.
The game will be played at Co-op Live, the 23,500-capacity arena that opened on the Etihad Campus in May 2024 and is operated by Oak View Group in partnership with City Football Group.
While London’s O2 Arena has hosted nine NBA regular-season games since 2011, Manchester has welcomed the league only once—an October 8, 2013 preseason meeting between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers at what is now AO Arena. The 2027 matchup will mark the city’s debut as a regular-season venue and forms part of a newly announced three-year slate that also sends NBA games to Berlin, London and Paris.
“Working alongside the NBA and Manchester City Council to bring a sporting event of this magnitude to the city marks another incredible milestone for the North West, and in Co-op Live’s journey to date,” said Guy Dunstan, the arena’s senior vice president and general manager. “We are delighted to host Manchester’s first-ever regular-season game in a venue purpose-built to deliver an electrifying atmosphere.”
Councillor Bev Craig, leader of Manchester City Council, called the announcement proof that “Manchester is known for big names and big games,” adding that the visit will “give so many people in our city the chance to see what the best athletes in the sport can do on our home turf.”
