MIAMI, August 11 – The Miami HEAT announced its 2016-17 regular season schedule today. The 82-game schedule consists of 41 home dates, all at AmericanAirlines Arena, and 41 road contests, and runs from October 26, 2016 through April 12, 2017. FOX Sports Sun, the exclusive regional television partner of the Miami HEAT, will air all games available for local broadcast which will amount to 80 games in total. The HEAT will make five national television appearances, including two exclusive broadcasts on TNT. In addition, ESPN is scheduled to broadcast three HEAT games and NBA TV has scheduled coverage on eight games. The Miami HEAT Radio Network, led by its flagship station 790 The Ticket (AM 790/FM 104.3 HD-2), will carry all of the team’s games in English, while Univision Radio’s Radio Mambi (710 AM) or Mix 98.3 FM (regular season conflict games) will broadcast each regular season game in Spanish. Additional broadcast schedule information, including preseason coverage, will be available at a later date.
Miami kicks off its 29th season on the road, facing the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, October 26 (7PM). The HEAT will kick off its home slate on Friday, October 28, when they host the Charlotte Hornets at (8PM). The HEAT begins the season with three of its first four games at home. Also of note this season, all Friday and several Saturday home games will begin at 8PM; allowing ticket holders additional time to arrive at the Arena and not miss any game action.
The schedule features several exciting match-ups, including two visits by the NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers on March 4 (8PM) and April 10 (7:30PM), while Dwyane Wade and the Chicago Bulls will appear in Miami only once this season, on November 10 (8PM). The HEAT host the Western Conference Champion Golden State Warriors on January 23 (7:30PM), and will also play on New Year’s Day for the seventh time in team history, when they host the Detroit Pistons at 6PM.
This year’s schedule features 37 of the 82 games played on weekends (Friday through Sunday). Of those weekend games, 17 will be played in Miami (four on Friday, eight on Saturday and five on Sunday). The HEAT’s longest homestand will be a six-game stretch from December 12-22. Miami’s longest stretch of road games is a six-game trip, from January 3-13. Additionally, the HEAT will play 15 sets of back-to-back games, two fewer than last season. The months in which Miami plays the highest number of games are December and March, when the HEAT hits the hardwood 16 times. March will also be the month in which the HEAT plays its most home contests, with 10 of its 16 games in AmericanAirlines Arena. The most road games Miami will play in a month is eight, which they do in November, December and January.
A limited number of Miami HEAT Season Tickets are available for sale for the upcoming 2016-17 season. Interested HEAT fans are encouraged to visit HEATSeasonTickets.com—a special website containing video elements, an interactive 3-D seating chart and the ability to view and purchase seats in real time. Starting tonight, HEAT fans can purchase tickets from HEAT Season Ticket Members via the NBA Resale Marketplace by logging on to HEAT.com. Group Tickets are also currently on sale. Partial ticket plans will go on sale Friday, August 19th. And on Friday, September 16th, the general public can purchase single game tickets by logging on to HEAT.com beginning at 10AM. For more specific information on these numerous ticket products, fans can contact the HEAT by visiting HEAT.com, by sending an email to seasons@heat.com or by calling 786-777-HOOP.