How the terrible Spurs are improbably going to break the NBA's single-game attendance record

The San Antonio Spurs — 13-29 and next-to-last in the Western Conference as of publishing this post — are about to set an NBA record.

Not in a bad way! Actually, in the most good way: They’re about to smash the record for single-game attendance.

How does a tanking team that bad do that?

It’s partially because the Spurs won’t be playing at the AT&T Center. They’re playing this one in the Alamodome, where they played in much of the 1990s and some of the early 2000s. And the Alamodome can hold 64,000 people (and more if you count standing room!).

Next question: Why there? It’s part of the franchise’s 50th anniversary, so the game against the Golden State Warriors carries even more meaning.

So there’s been a push to break the NBA’s regular-season record — set in 1998 when the Atlanta Hawks hosted Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the Georgia Dome and 62,046 fans showed up — which looks like will happen:

The @spurs are just days from attempting to set the new NBA regular season attendance mark! Ticket sales were at 61,500 plus on Tuesday night! The current attendance mark is just more than 62k. The Alamodome seats 65k. Feels like they'll get there. Any maybe both. @KENS5 pic.twitter.com/T40it0ljBJ

— Vinnie Vinzetta (@VVinzetta) January 11, 2023

NBA history: The San Antonio Spurs will set the league’s single-game attendance record Friday vs. Warriors at the Alamodome, selling 63,592 tickets to beat previous mark by Hawks-Bulls in 1998. pic.twitter.com/zT1aW5ESXM

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 12, 2023

Looks like the Spurs will break the attendance record. What’s dope is the press release they put out: pic.twitter.com/Wl3nSChumt

— Michael C. Wright (@mikecwright) January 12, 2023

This is super cool.