I know there are a few other Aussies on here so I thought I'd start a thread about the demise of the NBL in Australia. The competition has basically completely collapsed and next season there will be just seven teams, with it likely they were be no teams playing in the three biggest media markets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. I remember the big basketball boom in the mid 90's and when that bubble burst the competition never re adjusted to its new reality. For the tiny crowds and little to no TV coverage the competition was getting, the salaries of some players were ridiculous. The players can talk all they want about being worth it, but at the end of the day as a sportsman, you are only worth what people are willing to pay to watch you play. I honestly think that unless the NBL gets a cash injection by FIBA or the NBA that its pretty much done and dusted. Money is hard to come by as it is and Australia is the most competitive market in the world, not enough people, so many sports, only so much money and fans to go around. The NBL has not got any marketable players or teams and a major, major problems comes from the fact that these days you can switch on your TV and see games from the NBA a few times a week. So does anyone else think thats it for the NBL?
Happy to engage you in this discussion mate, always happy to talk Aussie hoops! Get a team down here in Tassie would be a good start. But seriously a team in the national competition would be huge for the NBL as it would be a massive hit and be really well supported down here. Of course it's up to the corporates to get in and sponsor such a venture. The population here would go mental for it. That said, I understand its more pressing for the viability of the 'new NBL' for Melbourne/Sydney to get a team in there first. It's been pointed out so many times by so many people that its become almost cliche' - but for the sake of this thread I will reiterate the point - Australian basketball at the highest level is highly successful with more players than ever doing really well at the NBA/College level. And also at the grassroots level, B'ball is on par with all other sports as far as participation numbers go. So for this reason, the middle ground needs to be a solid national comp. That is where we are falling down presently. So when they (media etc) talk about the 'death of the sport in Australia' - I think its more than a little over dramatic.
The NBL had a chance to sign a deal with FOX Sports where they would have had 5 games aired on pay T.V. The people who run the National competiton are clueless and needs to be overhauled. There needs to be a section who are business people and another section with Basketball people. The new league, needs to be named the ABA, Australasian Basketball Association. There needs to be a team in each major market. Melbourne can sustain two teams, which are South Dragons and Melbourne Tigers. Sydney will have a team, bringing back the Sydney Kings, because of there history. There should be a team in the Gold Coast and Brisbane. There at least needs to be 5 more teams. For argument's sake Tasmania, Perth, Adelaide, New Zealand and Darwin. They also need to grow a set of damn balls, go to Fox Sports and accept any television deal they can. They then need to look into getting games televisions on the new sports channel, One HD. Finally they need to take advantage of the popularity of Basketball at a Community level. They need to run Basketball camps for the kids, giving out free jersey's, so the kids wear them at school etc. Now I know it is more complicated than that, but it is the base. 10 teams in the major markets and as much television exposure as possible. Finally to say Basketball is dieing is bull. I coach Basketball at a community level and have been involved as a player since I was a kid. The fact that our National Competition is so bad while, Basketball is growing is a shame.
They should take a look at minor league baseball here in the USA, and how they went to smaller cities and built small stadiums...sort of took a grass roots approach. It is working very well. DD
The problem there is that the Australian population is just too small for an approch like that. Outside of the capital cities the Australian population is very spread out and just couldnt support the competition. I think what they would need to do is get some sort of backup funding, as I said, from the NBA or FIBA. Get a basic ten team competition going with Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane involved, but keep costs low and build from something very small. They are going to lose a lot of players no matter what. The few names they did have will head off to Europe and they are going to have to rebuild with youngsters anyway. The days of getting imports should be over for a long time.
I was saddened by the news of how the Melbourne Tigers were pulling out of the NBL this year. I have been a long time fan of them and they are one of the powerhouses of Australian Basketball. Honestly, i think the NBL died when Andrew Gaze retired. Quite frankly, the talent is still here in Australia, we've got some fantastic young players in the Big V down in Victoria and the ' Basketball SA' in South Australia but the problem is keeping them in Australia to play in this league. I don't think the NBL has a big enough status or influence in Australian sports, so good talented players opt to play overseas of even give college ball a crack. I've got a few mates that will be heading over to the U.S to play in college next year and i've asked them why they don't want to stay here and play in the NBL, and their biggest concern is the lack of talent IN the league and the lack of money in the league. I think we should be doing something similiar to the A-league, having teams signing former NBA or euroball stars to play for a season or so just to get people back into the stands and eventually have enough money to sign some serious international ballers. I know i'm not really solving anything here, but these are my current thoughts of the situation with the NBL
My mate plays for Victoria and i've heard some seriously good stuff about basketball players in Tasmania. There's a lot of young talent there and i don't think its that bad of an idea setting up a franchise down there so that those players can be exposed.
I've never been interested in the NBL. Loved the NBA for a few years now. I guess it's just the quality of players that makes a sport worth watching.. and obviously the NBL isn't filled with the best players around the world. Sure they're talented, but in the end we want to be witnessing the best.
Where does the money for that come from? The A League is bleeding red ink at a ridiculous rate, and it started off a better grounding than Basketball will. The reason the NBL is in the state its in is because they were paying playings more money than the players could earn via TV rights, gate takings and sponsorship.
It is a strange problem, Basketball is as popular as ever. The stadium i play at has three courts running from 6.00pm untill last game starts at 10.10pm and 2 teams from our comp have to have a bye each week due to lack of court space. Not sure during the daylight hours but i would assume some social comps, juniors etc So the players are there. The goverment in Victoria is spending i think $23 million building a basketball complex at Knox, so obviously the support/players are there. But in regards to basketball in Australia at a national comp level i think it is dead. Personally i would think that they should look at reducing the number of teams, Say 1 in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide & New Zealand to start with and join an asian league. Perhaps Japan or China... reduce the number of teams enhance the skill level of those teams and advertising/revenue would increase because of the size of the market. I just don't think that we have the population to support 5 or 6 "national" competitions. Our major problem is that juniors go to the US for college (nobody can blame them) then they either go to Europe or ask for to much money to come home. Don't know the viability of the above but it is something i think they should consider.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to money and no one in the right frame of mind is going to put money into Australian Basketball atm. BA needs to be exposed and without TV rights that isnt going to happen. The NBL was stupid for not taking any deal that Fox Sports was offering. We need to take a leaf out of the A-League and look to take a year, possibliy 2 years off. Develop a solid infrastructure, starting at the grass roots, and prepare a plan that is attractive to investors and other people who are interested in putting money into teams. The one problem here is that we dont have our very own "Frank Lowy," so to speak, a massive basketball fan with the money/power/connections to make this work. Just to add as well, basketball in Australia has been dead for a long, long time. I used to enjoy watching it and I attended most Kings games, but over the last 5-8 years the game in Australia has just become boring. Even at a time where the Kings were dominant, the style of play in the NBL was just unnattractive to me. It is far to 3-point focussed and there would be games where teams would jack up 35-40 threes a game. It became predictable, slow and monotonous. If, and thats a big if, basketball in Australia was to make a respectable comeback, there needs to be a total overhaul of the administration so that new people can come in with fresh ideas that appeals to the fans. sn09 could have a very valid point. Bringing over ex NBA stars or european players may be the only option. The league NEEDS to draw more fans to the game and this may be the only way. And remember, more fans = more income = more interest from the people with the money. Just my thoughts anyway. Matty101.
Actually the lower tear basketball league which is generally called the ABA here in Australia is actually well run and financially viable. Basically every city of over 60,000 or so has a team or two in the different leagues in this. Where I am we are in the SEABL league which is probably played at the highest level of them all. The key to this is it limits competition to a smaller area. Australia being a massive area it is not cheap to be flying the team and the support staff from Melbourne to Perth one week and then Perth to New Zealand the next.... and even Singapore had a team at one stage. The basketball participation rate is huge in Australia among kids, possibly higher than even the US, the local stadiums are full with games every night and I know when I was younger I would be playing 3 times a week in different leagues(juniors, school and seniors). The problem is once kids here come out of juniors the rates drop off. Basketball Australia has to work out how to improve those participation rates once kids hit 18 and also gain interest in the national league. Australian Soccer faced the EXACT same problem with massive junior participation but little interest in the national product. They are now on the way up by being patient(and also a little help by the success of the national team which is about to qualify for the world cup for the second time in a row). They killed their old league much like the NBL plan but waited over a year to start the new one, I think this approach should of been taken by Basketball Australia, yes some players may have been lost to Europe but it would of given time to get all the finances in check, create a new better product and push the advertising. I would like to see new clubs created with new management and directors. I am lucky enough to know a couple of people who have either played or were still playing NBL, one of whom is one of my best friends and from what he has told me unfortunatly the 'who you know' mentality runs right up to the top clubs. I find it hard to watch a league where the coach's son who is pretty average is getting more clock than guys who have just come out of leading their teams in scoring in NCAA Div 1(Australians will know exactly the team I am talking about).
