Yeah, last I heard you need more than one to take the court......

Locals aren't the problem. They can already have as many as they want - the issue is that none of them are really better than decent ABA players here.

What they need is the ability to recruit imports from the Philippines and China as well.

Ben knight is the only contracted player with the slingers , he will sign for the razorbacks so thats means slingers are out

Should read the Slinger is in. If we were to make a list of possibles who would be on it?
Cam Rigby, Pero, Majstrovich, Trahair? A few ex West Sydney boys not looking great. Better get a couple of very good imports.

I think they might, but haven't heard anything about it for months.

They are interested in both of the Ng's.

Mark Nash
Adrian Majstrovich
Brett Wheeler
Marcus Timmons
Ben Knight - Signed
Jason Eversteyne
Aaron Trahair
Willie Farley
Kane Oakley
Pero Vasiljevic
Marquin Chandler

I reckon you have two right jhfjhbdfgb.

Isaac wasnt the point of the Slingers waiting so long to get themselves in a financial position so that they could sustain and remain a longer term propostition in the League. And what has changed since the last thread about the Slingers, no other news seems to be coming out of there at all.

The only thing that has been whispered is that Gordie has been speaking to potential players whilst in Australia on National Duties, but he would be doing that anyway if they were in or out.

Squid, sure, that's their plan. But average team and crappy crowds, the year after they had a more substantial loss than expected, tells me that they're not going to pull out of the stall anytime soon.

I might have to disagree, i dont see the point in just slogging out one more year with the same end result. It is either going to be a long term gig or see you later right now.

Yes, ideally, but that doesn't mean it will work out that way. A team like Adelaide has 4,000 seats selling each game bringing in revenue - that's almost $1m that the Slingers won't really have. Then, airfares kill them too.

Would like to see them succeed, but I'm not optimistic.

Maybe the airfares will not be so much of an issue.

Selling tickets remains the issue.

Yes the airfares is probably the biggest thing as they pay for all teams plus refs that fly in. This is an expense that no other club has, (it was a similar deal when NZ came into the League, but i dont think selling tickets remains the issue at all. Sure it is an integral part but no corporate support is the biggy, without that nothing flows on crowds, ticket sales a supporter base and sustainability.

More like 5,000-6,000 Isaac, remember last season, the Sixers sucked.

Hopefully we can get 7,000 :P

Didn't the sixers average around 4000 last season?

closer to 5,000 and i said that last year was a bad one due to Adelaide's failures which haven't happend for the previous 9 years.

Most Attendance have been around the 4-5,000 mark last season:

4,663 09/02/07 Basketball NBL: 36ers v Taipains
4,103 03/02/07 Basketball NBL: 36ers v Tigers
5,044 27/01/07 Basketball NBL: 36ers v Bullets
5,475 10/01/07 Basketball NBL: 36ers v Taipains
4,325 31/12/06 Basketball NBL: 36ers v Wildcats
5,151 23/12/06 Basketball NBL: 36ers v Dragons
4,072 16/12/06 Basketball NBL: 36ers v Singapore
4,427 13/12/06 Basketball NBL: 36ers v Razorbacks
5,124 25/11/06 Basketball NBL All Star Game
3,482 15/11/06 Basketball NBL: 36ers v Razorbacks


2003 Had the top 8 eve crowds:

7,750 11/01/03 Basketball NBL: Adelaide v West Sydney
7,597 22/02/03 Basketball NBL: Adelaide v Victoria
7,593 07/02/03 Basketball NBL: Adelaide v Perth
7,418 24/01/03 Basketball NBL: Adelaide v Brisbane
6,942 24/10/03 Basketball NBL: Adelaide v NZ
6,667 29/01/03 Basketball NBL: Adelaide v W.Sydney
6,563 08/03/03 Basketball NBL Finals: Per v Ade
6,465 31/12/03 Basketball NBL: Adelaide v Hunter

I still don't know why the NBL is wasting time and effort to intrude into international markets when the game in Australia is hurting so bad!

Surely you get the local market right and then cast your eyes overseas.

Dump NZ, dump the Slingers and consolidate the game in OZ 1st, then try again in maybe 5-10 years. Consolidate and strengthen the talent we already have in the NBL instead of diluting and weakening our talent pool.

If we do not consolidate what we already have in this country then my fear is that sooner than later our top level games will be played locally between district clubs, with the NBL consigned to faded memories.

I was being conservative re 36ers crowds.

Pogo, NZ are in a far better situation IMO - solid owner, good club admin, and at least have some supporter base.

I'm not trying to say that NZ are doing badly but weren't their crowds around 1,500 last season?

1,500-3,500 or so.

I have seen enough of badly managed teams from Australia fold and leave a hole in the NBL. Now we have to watch a precession of overseas teams do the same thing? Remember the Magic, Specters, Giants, Rollers, Cannons, Devils; just to name a few?

Any team entering the NBL should have to prove they have the backing for at least 3 seasons worth of games.

The fact that the Slingers are from overseas means zip to me when most of the roster is made up of Aussies.

If the best the overseas franchises can do is pull 2500-3000 on a really, really good night then I think it is time to cast our eyes back to our own back yard and try to work out what we are doing wrong.

It wasn't to many years ago that the NSL was a heart beat away from going under. Fast forward to today and they have a very robust comp.

Somewhere along the line the NBL took its eye off the ball. I say cut the international teams loose if they cant increase their crowds and prove they will still be viable and around in a couple of years.

Also one of the problems in Singapore is they cant get any media coverage in the newspapers. Unlike Australia in Singapore you have to pay for articles in the newspaper and the Slingers wouldnt do it. Most of the papers in Singapore are taken up by English premier league.