Menora Mivtachim Arena

Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C., which competes in Israel’s Premier League and the EuroLeague, makes its home at the arena in Yad Eliyahu.[1] The club’s achievements include six European championships, 51 Israeli championships, and 43 Israeli Cups.[1] The venue has hosted Maccabi’s games for decades while also developing a substantial role as a venue for international performances and other events.[4]

The arena’s standard seating capacity was listed as 10,383 before alterations for EuroBasket 2017, when approximately 1,000 seats were removed to enlarge the press tribune and accommodate other changes.[3] Other accounts have used rounded figures of 10,300 or 11,000 seats, and seating arrangements differ by event.[5][6] Facilities listed in 2017 included 24 viewing boxes, two VIP rooms, eight food stands, 12 entrances, and 13 shops or retail chains renting space in the building.[3]

The venue was inaugurated on September 17, 1963, as an uncovered, tile-floored sports court with concrete stands seating about 5,000 spectators.[2] Originally known as the Yad Eliyahu Sports Arena and named for Yosef Burstein, it formed part of a sports complex that also included the Galit swimming pool.[2][7]

Toward the end of the 1960s, the court underwent extensive renovation and was effectively rebuilt to designs by architect Ze’ev Porat and engineer Asher Milstein.[2] The project added an upper tier for approximately 5,000 additional spectators and a metal roof, transforming the open court into Israel’s first enclosed basketball arena.[2]

Hapoel Tel Aviv also played home games at the venue during the 1970s and 1980s.[8] In late 2024, the club was preparing to move from its smaller Drive-In Arena to Menora Mivtachim, despite the latter’s strong association with city rival Maccabi Tel Aviv.[6] Hapoel made the arena its temporary home in January 2025 while its own Shlomo Group Arena was due to undergo renovation.[8]

The venue’s names have included Yad Eliyahu and Nokia Arena.[9] Nokia’s Israeli importer, Eurocom, ended its naming sponsorship after ten years.[4] Menora Mivtachim subsequently won a naming-rights tender conducted by the Tel Aviv municipality and its Sports Halls company, and the new sponsored name took effect on January 1, 2015.[4][9] The initial eight-year agreement was reported at NIS 20 million.[4] In 2022, the company exercised an option for another eight years at an estimated additional cost of about NIS 20 million.[9]

Preparations for EuroBasket 2017 included a reported NIS 6.5 million renovation budget, funded by the Tel Aviv municipality, the national sports betting council—the Toto—and the Israeli government.[3] Two outdoor hospitality tents were planned at a cost of approximately NIS 2.5 million.[3] Technical improvements included a NIS 1.65 million sound system with 48 speakers and eight subwoofers, together with the replacement of older lighting by 160 LED fixtures.[3] About 100,000 people were expected to attend the Israeli portion of the tournament.[3]

In 2016, the arena hosted 35 basketball games, 72 cultural events, 27 international performances, 35 children’s events, four conferences, and six television programs.[3] Estimated attendance totaled 700,000, divided evenly between sports events and cultural or performance events.[3] Its operating model emphasized year-round, multipurpose use and holding events on as many evenings as possible.[3]

In April 2018, the mass-singing initiative Koolulam brought 12,000 people to the arena to perform Naomi Shemer’s “Al Kol Eleh” ahead of Israel’s 70th anniversary.[5] Participants included President Reuven Rivlin, musician Shlomi Shabat, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, and Knesset member Gila Gamliel.[5] The event was developed with the President’s Residence, the Ministry for Social Equality, and the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality.[5] Participants rehearsed in two groups, with Shemer’s family, eight conductors, and 40 musicians also involved.[5]

The arena hosted a nearly full Scorpions concert in July 2018, with the seating capacity for that performance described as more than 10,000.[10] The band played a two-and-a-half-hour set that included “Wind of Change,” and lead singer Klaus Meine greeted the audience in Hebrew.[10] He also recalled having once imagined making it “all the way to Tel Aviv.”[10]