NBL 2010/11

[cam]

Well the new NBL season gets underway this Friday with the re-introduction of the Sydney Kings. They play at the Entertainment Centre Saturday Night - 7,000 tickets have already been sold. The venue has also had a $1m facelift - new court, video screen, corporate boxes.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/other-sport ... public_rss

http://www.austadiums.com/sport/comp.php?sid=4

[Boba Fett]

Great news on the ticket sales - be even better if I actually believed it. Kings were notorious for giving away truckloads back in the day. Were also prone to inflating crowd figures...

Had to laugh at Bob Turner saying the Ent Cent refurbishment meant the Kings were looking like the LA Lakers. A new court and video screen is not going to turn the SEC into the Staples Center! Acer Arena is much closer to the mark, if ot better...

But if they can average 5-6,000 people through the season I think that will be a great achievement. Always great when any team gets good support.

[Jeffles]

Very exciting stuff. I'm not going this Friday but have already pencilled in some games on the calendar. They'll be a bit of an unknown quantity this year - they may lose many more than they win. The fans will need to stick by them otherwise history will repeat.

[yob]

Bring back the North Melbourne Giants.

[timmers]

I can't help but think they are re-making the 'glamour club' mistakes that Sydney FC did. Surely by now new clubs should realise that a strong community engagement is required to get a fan base. Telling everyone 'we're rich, so pay to watch us play' isn't going to work

[Boba Fett]

I can't help but think they are re-making the 'glamour club' mistakes that Sydney FC did. Surely by now new clubs should realise that a strong community engagement is required to get a fan base. Telling everyone 'we're rich, so pay to watch us play' isn't going to work

I'd rather they looked at previous NBL teams in Sydney and analysed why they didn't work before worrying about the strategy of a team in a completely different code.

Besides, looking at the dropping crowds for all A-League teams (bar Perth and Newcastle), I don't think Sydney FC are on their own with troubles. I think the A-League as a whole has serious problems...

At least the NBL is (kind of) working in other markets outside Sydney.

[wildcat]

Kings got 8,500 on saturday, a great crowd. Hard part will be keeping them there, they don't have a great home schedule, next game is in 3 weeks, then another 3 weeks until the next. But they have a good run home (hopefully haven't lost too many games by then)

Hardly a glamour club when it comes to the team roster, but hopefully they will display some great team basketball.

With the Sydney FC struggling at the moment, the Kings have a great opportunity to re-establish themsleves on the city this summer.

[HoldenV8]

Good to see over 5,000 turn up to The Dome to see Adelaide beat last years champions Perth. Hopefully crowds from this weekend don't drop off at an alarming rate. Also good to see the NBL back on free to air after being on Foxtel for the past 15 or so years. Ever since I ditched Foxtel back in 05' I've missed seeing the NBL and have to admit to only seeing 1 game in that time and that was live. Now I can see it every week, even if it might not be the 36ers, which the win over Perth was

[Adelaide_United_Red]

Went to my first NBL game last night in about 15 years...36ers vs Cairns at the SuperDome, SA
Not a bad little venue, pretty good seating w. easy parking(esp compared to Hindmarsh Stadium!). except for the result(ADL had an 18pt lead at one stage of Q3 only to cough it up and lose 75-70 at the end. I thought the tickets were a touch expensive for the product on show though. That being said I thought the quality on show was okay, not as exciting as it seemed to be in the 80's. Through Stubhub, I paid US$40 combined for me and the missus to see Kevin Durant and the rest of the OKC Thunder take on the Houston Rockets (in the NBA) at the Ford Center in OKC almost exactly 12 months ago...
Last night @ 36ers: I paid A$30 for a seat in the R row(A being court-side) there were 5,184 there and I would have thought packing the place out would be a much better look for the league than not doing so. Perhaps A$15 for Silver seats(above the concourse), A$20 for Gold(where I was and A$50 for platinum (rows A-D court-side)
Not a bad night out, will probably go again in a couple of weeks when the 36ers host the hoop-tards of Melbourne. Hope the home team can remember to play for 4 quarters by then!

Hows the rest of the league looking from a financial POV and is it looking to expand or consolidate at the moment? cheers.

[kilonewton]

Bring back the North Melbourne Giants.

And the Nunawading Spectres.

[Adelaide_United_Red]

Bring back the North Melbourne Giants.

And the Nunawading Spectres.

What happened to the Brisbane Bullets? Surely a major city like Brisvegas can support an NBL side? esp if GoldCoast, Townsville and Cairns can!

[yob]

Bring back the North Melbourne Giants.

And the Nunawading Spectres.

What happened to the Brisbane Bullets?

Eddy Groves exited when ABC Learning went tits up.

[Adelaide_United_Red]

Ahh, that wanker, is there anything he touched that didn't go to custard?

What about a re-birth like the Kings?

[Egan]

The cheapest ticket at Challenge Stadium is $30 and the venue is in the worst location imagineable for anyone but those in the western suburbs, they also don't sell concession tickets.

Another two seasons before they move into the Perth Indoor arena in a few seasons.

Powerhouse is an awesome venue for basketball.

I went to the Bullets game against Wildcats before they folded and for a top of the ladder clash they battled to fill up the 3,500 seat venue.

[Adelaide_United_Red]

Found my own answer by chance to the Bullets question:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/ ... 1ay9k.html dated18 Feb2011

THE NBL has announced it will bring basketball back to Brisbane as part of the league's expansion. The competition's governing body is currently negotiating with investors to re-establish a team in the Queensland capital within the next two seasons.
''We've been talking to a number of people up there working out a way forward with it but we're not going to do it unless it's sustainable at this point … at some point in the future we will definitely have a team in Brisbane,'' said NBL chief executive Larry Sengstock.

Over the last two years, Brisbane has out-ranked all other metropolitan areas in terms of television ratings for the NBL despite currently not having a home team. With a hungry market, the league is fast-tracking talks to establish a franchise in the city.

The NBL is yet to indicate exactly who will make up the board of the new team but have confirmed they will be pushing the franchise to take up the previous ''Bullets'' trademark.

''The Bullets name has a huge amount of carry in Brisbane, it's like the Sydney Kings [in Sydney], it comes with an automatic understanding and a profile that comes with [it],'' Sengstock said.

The NBL will announce the Brisbane expansion within two weeks. ''We're desperate to get a team but not so desperate that we'll put something in there that's not sustainable,'' Sengstock said.

After a successful relaunch of the national competition two years ago, the league is looking to bring in two new clubs by 2013. Brisbane has been confirmed as the primary focus for the NBL and a second Melbourne franchise will battle for a place with a Newcastle bid led by Nathan Tinkler.