My oh my, the NBL in my mind has lost the excitement and suspence of last year. Sydney look unbeatable at moment, although the wildcats took it up to them in Sydney and predict another Sydney - Perth grandfinal. Perth are notorious bad starters but when they get on a roll are hard to stop, they have gone unbeaten in 14 or 15 games the last few years. The squad looks like the only one that could even think of toppling Sydney.

Then we have the teams that shouldn't even be in the competition the class isn't simply there. Im naming Newcastle and New Zealand Breakers these teams are like teams which have only got local players and should be in a state comp not the supposedly "second best" basketball league in the world. Also i very doubt the existence of one of the melbourne clubs, the support is waning even though they are performing better. It seems a pity that the once exciting and must watch competition is now basically aimed at an exclusive population on foxtel. This has ruined the prestige, unlike when ABC used to do a great job with the coverage of the NBL. I even remember a time when both Channel 7 and ABC both had the Wildcats on the same day, one live the other delayed. Now we have nothing. We have teams that get beaten by 30 or mor points. We now have players like Shane Heal, Paul Rogers and many imports leaving the nation. Wooed by the money offered in europe.

Whats the point of being interested in a league which has a lack of interest in it even though there is a new chief executive officer. The only coverage an every day fan gets is radio coverage and limited newspaper. The crowds are a dismal and the 30 point thrashings are a joke so is the extra travel. I have an idea that New Zealand and Newcastle were only brought in for the money, without the NBL having sense of reality. Lets hope the new finals system reaches new excitement. Aswell that we have a Perth - Sydney Grand Final would be crackerjack games especially now it is the best of 5 which would suit the Wildcats to a T.

You have to give the new teams a bit longer than 8 rounds to make a name for themselves. If you look back at most sports comps in Australia, new teams often don't do well in their fist year. Even in the NBL, the Crocs, previously the Suns were really poor in their early years but by the year 2000 were among the top teams. In Rugby League, Manly and Parramatta were at the bottom of the ladder in their first year 1947 while Cronulla and Penrith repeated the same results in 1967.
Although, the NBL really needs an overhaul in its marketing department. FOXTEL just doesn't cut it, I'm afraid, considering how few people actually have it. I think that for the NBL to become more popular again one of the commercial networks needs to be brought in to jointly broadcast games alongside FOXTEL. Maybe Channel 10 could increase its summer sports budget considering Channel 9 has the cricket and Channel 7 has the tennis and shares the golf tournaments with Channel 10. At least some games could have an Australia-wide reach. Or is that too simple a concept.

Argee, disagree strongly. New clubs do not necessary always cut it. Football Kingz in NSL have been a dismal failure since the beginning. Carlton, Collingwood Soccer Clubs. The Western REds. The fact is the NBL brang in two provincial sides that are second rate into a competitition that had more class. I mean Newcastle who took over Canberra's license and all due respect to the great legend of the game James Crawford who part owns the team. It is a national disgrace that they are in the competition. Sure in a few years time when the economic situation is basketball is better, and if they can attract quality players. But throwing two below average sides in the competition is not very good for the status and prestige of the league. Plus look at the crowds New Zealand and Newcastle are getting, they are pretty damn abismal.

FOXTEL cannot have the huge domination of the NBL that it does have, so that regualar viewers cannot watch NBL, but all the commercial networks and ABC do not want it. Channel 7 Perth used to cover all home games live on TV when they where at the Entertainment centre a few years back. They broadcast the first game of last year between the Giants and Wildcats at Challenge, then had an hour highlights prgram for home and away matches. This year Perth has nothing and charismatic coach Alan Black has left, including young protege Simon Black. All these factors combining you don't have a healthy NBL. In any place other then in Nth Queensland and Adelaide. Even Cairns had a first ever sell out for the first home game of year. Sydney's come in fourth Woolongong 5th and a huge gap between the others. With Newcastle, Victoria and New Zealand at bottom of the list.

Lets hope for everyone's sake, most importantly for the people of New Zealand and Newcastle, I am proven wrong.

Give new clubs time. It's hard work to break into the market.

As for NBL and marketing, they need free to air rights. A truly national competition with matches of a reasonable standard. The game went downhill after TEN stopped.

Go the Kings!!!

The problem is not that the commercial stations don't want the NBL, its that FOXTEL is willing to spend more money. Money talks. Money makes the world go around. Damn it!!!

I was just thinking...canberra cannons had that whole pirate theme, is that why hunter called themselves the pirates?

Well this is a massive bump...but my prediction of the Hunter Pirates and one of the Melbourne teams was correct

Nostradamus strikes again



BTW good to see Hunters Crowds were up last week...good sign.

Hunter faces NBL axe
By Laine Clark
January 10, 2006

THE axe is hovering over NBL club Hunter Pirates after suffering a crippling $850,000 loss this season.

Pirates chairman John O'Brien said if a major sponsor was not found in the next three weeks, Hunter - in only its third season - faced the prospect of losing its licence.

The NBL finalises its 2006-07 draw at the end of January and needs a final word on the Pirates' financial plight by then.

"We have to find a naming sponsor. We need someone who will come in with $300,000 a year for three years so the whole thing can get up and running," O'Brien said.

"The crunch is, the league needs to do a draw and its make-up depends on us.

"So we need to get on our bike and get things organised.

"If we can't see our way to getting a sponsor, we will have to look to sell the licence off.

"It would be a dormant licence because we don't have anyone who wants the licence to play next year."

O'Brien and Newcastle basketball greats Michael Johnson and Butch Hays are helping run the club after the Pirates management team of Nick and Helen Buvinic resigned on Sunday night.


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"At a meeting of shareholders they (Buvinics) fell on their sword because we had been running at a very large deficit," O'Brien said.
"They worked hard but they weren't successful in getting the revenue or the patrons.

"Perhaps we should have moved earlier but everyone is wise in hindsight.

"Unfortunately the budget shortfall was enormous, so we needed to step in, take over the management and assure our players and staff that everyone will get paid."

Hunter burst into the NBL in the 2003-04 season after collecting the licence from the now defunct Canberra Cannons.

Now Hunter faces the sobering prospect of losing its licence after poor crowds and sponsorship this season despite on-court success - it is in the top eight and looks set for its second straight finals campaign.

Hays took over game day operations for last Saturday night's clash against Brisbane and enjoyed immediate results with more than 3500 people attending - almost 2000 more than their home crowd average.

"We changed things for the last game and brought back Butch Hays who we originally bought the licence from, and we went from 1500 to 3500 people at the stadium," O'Brien said.

"If we can do that next Sunday (against the Sydney Kings) we are on the way - the main aim though is getting a major sponsor by the end of the month.

"Before the playoffs start ideally we want to know where we are.

"We are working hard on it at the moment - we are not leaving any stone unturned."

Hunter's financial plight would provide a sense of deja vu for Pirates players Ben Melmeth and Geordie Cullen.

Melmeth was a member of the NBL club Newcastle Falcons which folded in 1999 while Cullen played for Canberra.

The Pirates travel to Wollongong on Friday night before returning home to meet three-time defending champions the Kings on Sunday night.

The Breakers are still alive, albeit just. Just stop the f***ing merry-go-round of coaches. If Brian Goordjan (you know who i mean) really applied for the Breakers job, why didn't they accept him?

Hopefully they can shake the awful mismanagment they have dogged themselves with for the first few years.

Whilst I can agree with the sentiments considering both clubs being abject failures, these are poor examples. Collingwood Warriors won the NSL Cup in their only season and Carlton finished 2nd and 3rd in two of their three full Ericsson A-League seasons.

The Pirates are going the way of the Falcons and the Cannons. There is good support in the city but it is not translating into corporate support. I think this is where a lack of FTA TV coverage starts to have an impact.

And the Kungz were actually semi-decent in their first couple of years (and attracting OK crowds, for NSL standards at least).

You wern't even posting when i wrote this...so stuff bickies...a bit late to suggest the errors of my ways

Does anyone think basketball can be saved in this country? Surely the A-League will bring about its death.

The A-League will threaten the damn thing that's for sure. Whereas the NBL could've previously said to Fox "What other Aussie sport will you show in summer?" they are now in a position of less bargaining power.

Of course there are still opportunities for the NBL. The rise of Andrew Bogut, Lauren Jackson and the continuing competitiveness of the national teams gives basketball something quantifiable that they can seize on. Further, the NBL has very low barriers to entry meaning that there is a decent geographical spread (probably the best in the country).

The sport itself is in good shape. The problem lies in administrators not understanding the Australian market and specific local markets. When the NBL was at its peak, Mal Speed was in charge. Now he's with cricket.

lol

I didn't even realise it's over 2 years old till you mentioned it.