The NBA announced the All-Star Game in 2027 will be held in Phoenix.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Suns owner Mat Ishbia spoke at a press conference in Phoenix on Thursday to announce the latest All-Star Weekend location. After staging four of the last five All-Star Games in cold-weather cities like Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, Cleveland and Chicago, the next three will be located in California and Arizona.
San Francisco’s Chase Center, Inglewood’s Intuit Dome, which opens next season, and Phoenix’s Footprint Center will host the next three All-Star Games.
“We know what kind of show we want to put on,” Ishbia said. “The NBA always does an amazing job. It’s a whole weekend of festivities and you could even argue a week of festivities. And we’re excited. We have a couple years to prepare for it, and we’ll keep getting better and better. We did it in 2009 [All-Star] here, but we’re really going to piggyback off what a great job Indiana did [last month].
“And I’m sure Golden State will do a great job [in 2025] and the Clippers will do a great job [in 2026] and we’re going to piggyback off that. But we want to make it special. And one thing that those places don’t have is they don’t have Phoenix.”
It hasn’t taken Ishbia long to make an impact as owner of the Suns and Mercury. Ishbia took over both franchises in February of 2023. The Footprint Center will host the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. And this is the first time the NBA All-Star Game will be in Phoenix since 2009.
“It has to be a record that within that year [of becoming owner] both the WNBA and an NBA All-Star Games have been awarded to this community,” Silver said of Ishbia. “And your team does deserve so much of the credit. But Mat made it pretty clear to me, I think it was the first week that [Ishbia] started with the WNBA and said this is a huge opportunity. And it was… But then shortly thereafter [he] said now we’ve got to get to the NBA.”
Silver cited the location and ability to do outdoor activities in February as a reason why Phoenix was awarded the All-Star Game.
“This is an incredibly desirable location,” Silver said. “People love to be here. I think when we are here, both in the summer for the WNBA All-Star Game and then for the NBA All-Star Game, there’s so much to do in this community,” Silver said. “There’s so many outdoor activities I think I know for our clientele that comes from around the world.
“… It’s a wonderful location just to focus all the excitement on these festivities and the All-Star itself when we were, it will have been 18 years when by the time we come back here in 2027. And it’s evolved from sort of events game itself then to the Saturday activities, then to Friday night activities.”
