More Cities Need To Take A Page Out Of Indianapolis' Playbook And Put A Full Sized Basketball Court In Their Airports

Dylan Buell. Getty Images.

With the NBA's All Star Game kicking off next month in Indianapolis, the NBA and the city have decided to help market the event by putting a regulation court in the airport

I've been to this airport a few times and that picture of the food court area doesn't really do it justice. It's gigantic. From what I can gather, unfortunately this is all for show, as nobody can actually use the court. 

To that I say, this is a big time missed opportunity and frankly is something that airports across the country should have. Maybe don't go crazy with a full court if you don't have the space, but find a way to at least give us a half court and a basket. Everyone knows traveling and going to airports is the worst, and as someone who has been scared straight by his mother to always show up multiple hours early no matter what, I would love something like this to help kill time. Don't ask me how you could organize it, maybe you have to show a boarding pass and you get 10 shots or something along those lines, but my overall point is this is something that has endless possibilities.

Think about if you're on standby waiting for a flight. One seat becomes available, but a handful of passengers want it. Well, what if we took things to the hardwood? Offer up like $200 worth of drink coupons if you win a game of knockout for the final seat. Forget first come first serve, at least put it on the table so that a passenger could get the seat AND some drink coupons if they went over to the court to compete for their spot. Give every airline a timeslot or something to sort that stuff out, but that would be electric. 

Or what about the time when they ask if anyone would be willing to give up their seat for an overbooked flight? Usually, you get the offer of some cash or a voucher and maybe a hotel if you'd be cool with giving up your seat. Well, what if the offer was 2x the cash if you hit a halfcourt shot? You're telling me more people wouldn't take that chance?

Let's say you get caught in a storm and have to spend the night at the airport. That shit sucks. You know what would make me less annoyed? If I could kill some time getting some shots up. In fact, I'd probably pay a little extra on my ticket if I knew I had a long as hell layover somewhere and it granted me access to a court like this. 

While I don't have kids, I can imagine if there was a way parents could let their children get out all their energy by running around/using the court, my guess is they'd take it. It's probably much less stressful and much easier to travel with a tired/sleeping kid. 

So even though this is all for promotion, I feel like there's something here that's worth looking into by people WAY smarter than me. I'm just the ideas guy. Traveling is already such a disaster in 2024, why not mix things up and give us something fresh? It's like how Vegas has slot machines in their airport to help you pass the time/try and win all your money back at the last second (you won't). 

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And hey, if you somehow miss your flight because you're too busy getting buckets, so be it. 

In reality, I know this would most likely cause chaos and fights and all that, but that's for the smart people to figure out. I'm just saying it would be cool to have a functioning court in airports and that's a world I want to live in one day.