MOBILE, Ala. — Two south Alabama basketball programs are getting a game on an NBA floor.
The Baker Hornets and the Spanish Fort Toros will meet in New Orleans for a special varsity and junior varsity doubleheader at the Smoothie King Center, according to a Facebook post from Spanish Fort Toros basketball.
The matchup is set for Thursday, Jan. 28, 2027, in downtown New Orleans.
The Schedule
Both levels will play, back to back:
- 12:30 p.m. — Junior varsity tipoff
- 2 p.m. — Varsity tipoff
The Smoothie King Center is the home arena of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. Later that same night, at 7 p.m., the Pelicans will host the Philadelphia 76ers on the same floor.
Why the Timing Works
An early-afternoon high school doubleheader in an NBA arena on the day of an NBA game is not a coincidence of scheduling. It is how these events are typically arranged.
An arena hosting a professional game that evening already has the floor down, the scoreboard programmed, the lighting set, and building staff on site. Adding high school games in the early afternoon uses a building that would otherwise sit idle for most of the day, and the conversion cost between the two is close to nothing.
For the schools, the practical effect is access to a venue that would be far out of reach as a standalone rental.
A Cross-Bay Matchup, Relocated
Baker and Spanish Fort are a natural pairing for this kind of showcase. Baker High School sits in west Mobile County; Spanish Fort High School is across Mobile Bay in Baldwin County. The two programs are close enough geographically to carry a regional familiarity, and separated enough by county lines that the meeting is not a routine district game.
Moving that matchup roughly 140 miles west to a professional arena gives both programs something a home gym cannot: a neutral floor, a bigger stage, and a day that players are likely to remember well past the final score.
Including the junior varsity teams doubles the number of students who get the experience — a detail that matters more than it might appear, since JV rosters are largely underclassmen who rarely play in front of a crowd of any size.
What Isn’t Settled Yet
The announcement did not include ticket details. The Spanish Fort post said more information will be released about how to purchase tickets for the game.
Fans planning to travel should expect ticketing to be handled separately from the Pelicans game that evening, as is standard for afternoon events in NBA venues.
South Alabama News will publish ticket information once the schools release it.