NBL in crisis

[Magpiespower]

According to Tim Morrissey in today's Teletrash...

- NBL says its sink or swim time for clubs
- NBL has no money to promote and sell game in Australia
- NBL brand fast disappearing in crucial Sydney and Melbourne markets
- Dwindling crowds
- A national campaign will be launched in the coming weeks.

Average crowds for this season:
4967 - Townsville (-1.6% on last year's figures)
4812 - Adelaide (+0.9%)
3766 - Perth (-5.8%)
3524 - Wollongong (-26%)
3204 - Brisbane (+12.0%)
2988 - Melbourne (+7.2%)
2265 - New Zealand (-16.9%)
2249 - West Sydney (-35%)
1902 - Hunter (-47.6%)

Worrying times indeed.

[Jimmy]

well, they are over doing it in NSW with hunter and west sydney, no one ******* cares about them...the failed giants/titans proved that the game is not wanted in the east...oh well, go the 36ers!!!

[Wedgie]

Its funny, Kings fans (and that clown Morrissey) have been saying for years that the Kings winning a championship would send the NBL flying
They've won 3 and the league's gone backwards.

[Magpiespower]

The NBL has been in trouble for years.

The move to summer hasn't paid off quite like expected.

Having no free-to-air coverage, in ANY form, is killing it.

Honestly, they should get Mike Wrublewski back in the game.

At least he knew how to promote it.

The Kings might not have won sweet FA when he ran the show but they packed the crowds in and had a presence in town.

You'd be hard pressed finding anyone in the street who could name a Kings player these days.

[doggies4eva]

Agree with you Magpiespower - the game is suffering from lack of free to air. Trace back the fall in crowd numbers and it will show a direct link to the fall in TV coverage. Back in 94 the 36ers regularly sold out now the stadium is just over half sold. The move to summer was a gamble to try and pick up a free to air station when there was less competition from the football codes. It has failed! The additional of a NZ side was a positive but was not accompanied by TV!

[JK]

They have noone to blame but themselves, useless feakin morons ... By setting out to gift Sydney a clear championship path (which they finally took) having done it in Victoria previously, they deliberately threw hurdles via a blind eye to the salary cap, one-sided suspensions (Catallini) and all abnormal rulings going against them (Sapwell, Rees, Rogers, Stiff, the Lowery 3-Point saga etc) in front of several other teams, those that have been the pillar of the competition!

The NBL has long been as farcical (if not more so) as Soccer Australia yet has largely flown under the radar whilst SA has copped plenty more bagging over the years .. They've brought the state of this competition onto themselves!!

[ORDoubleBlues]

Agree about the TV situation but in these times I could only see it working on SBS or the ABC as if it didn't rate it's tits off on commercial TV straight away, it would be dropped faster than a hot potato.

[JK]

Perhaps they need to adopt a similar re-shaping of the competition as we've seen in the 'A' League and scale back to about 8 teams, increase the Salary Caps (the European competitions are still significantly more lucrative than our own), and market it as a more elite competition??

[Magpiespower]

There was talk at one stage of introducing a final four type scenario where the semi's and grand final would be played over one weekend.

Personally, I don't think the three-or-five game series format works in Australia and would prefer it if the league adopted the McIntyre system - preferably a final 6, especially in a 12 team competition.

The greatest failing of the NBL, at least in my eyes, is that they have continually failed, even right now, to recognize that this is an Australian sporting league.

Everything - image, marketing and promotion, game presentation, commentators - has always been skewered towards Anytown, USA. It's ridiculous.

[dinglinga]

NBL struggling- well there is still a Adelaide 36ers player that hasnt recieved full payment for the past three years..... lets say this player is possibly in the top 3 players at the club

[JK]

Amazes me that given it's current plight they (NBL) are introducing a new team for next season, not knowing much about it, can anyone tell me whether the Dragons are additional to the current group of teams or are they in fact replacing one of the existing clubs??

[ORDoubleBlues]

Constance, I think you could effectively say that they are a replacement for the Titans, who were a replacement for the Giants, who were a merger/conglomerate of about 3 or 4 different teams. Could be wrong but I think Cowan had something to do with the Titans.

[Wedgie]

Constance, I think you could effectively say that they are a replacement for the Titans, who were a replacement for the Giants, who were a merger/conglomerate of about 3 or 4 different teams. Could be wrong but I think Cowan had something to do with the Titans.

You are wrong, Cowan was overlooked and the Fidas? group was approved for the Titans and there was a general consensus at the time they may have chosen the wrong group. The NBL is getting desperate, not because of this move but for many, they've given up on free to air and won't even let teams like Perth, Adelaide, Townsville and Cairns negotiate FTA deals with their local broadcasters.

[ORDoubleBlues]

No worries Wedgie but I thought I had certainly heard the name before.
Burton was offering plenty of excuses recently as to why individual teams couldn't negotiate their own TV deals but they certainly do it in the NBA.

[JK]

I still completely fail to see how adding another side can be beneficial to an already ailing competition, don't get me wrong, I enjoy the NBL and luv the Sixers so I hope someone is able to explain it to me, but from where I stand it looks likely to be another Razorback type venture - Might have a honeymoon period over a season or two, but is quite likely to settle down and offer nothing by way of improving the league for the longer term??

[Magpiespower]

Could be wrong but I think Cowan had something to do with the Titans.

The NBL has transferred the St. Kilda/Nunawading/Eastside/Westside/Southern/South East Melbourne Saints/Spectres/Magic/Titans/Giants' license over to Cowan Basketball so the second Victorian team will be under their control.

I still completely fail to see how adding another side can be beneficial to an already ailing competition

Victoria (closely followed by SA) has historically been the 'spiritual home' of basketball in Australia.

Definitely need two teams in Melbourne.

We'll see how the South Dragons go...