Sydney is reportedly on the brink as well

From another thread on the Kings -

It means that we have teams in the NBL like Singapore & NZ that mean absolutley nothing to the loyal NBL fans of the last 10-20 years while we have Aussie clubs going under every couple of years.

How the can this competition be taken seriously by any potential backer while we have teams that are "johnny come latleys" and have little or no support in Oz pulling crowds full of free tickets whlie the NBL sits on its hands and does nothing for the kind of clubs that have helped make this comp a little more exiting.

Sure the Kings are the team everyone loves to hate, but who are we going to "love to hate" when they fold, the slingers?

NZ & Slingers = no passion for oz crowds

No passion = no paying bums on seats.

No paying bums on seats = no NBL.

Remember the past sell out games at the Powerhouse because I cant see the slingers or the breakers ever selling out the Dome.

Seems to have come credibility..

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,23765130-952,00.html

some*

Anyhow, very sad to see. I really hope someone comes up with the money to keep the Bullets running for another season.

We'll hate the Dragons now of course!

The big issue of course is that bball is a third tier sport in Aust and we can't afford to keep paying fulltime professional athletes and the coaches plus ancillary staff. Anyone thought about superannuation, long service leave(=pay)for coaches in some cases, medical and insurance cover....et cetera?

I think there needs to be serious thought to restricting the financial burden to owners, by one or more strategies, eg only one import, salary cap much lower, promote the bball career as a parttime activity with most or all players doing other (genuine) work, perhaps getting sponsorship from a 1st tier sport,perhaps limiting each club to 5 full professional players and 5 part-pro, and a developmnt squad of 5 on petrol money (whooo, that could get expensive too!)

any other suggestions?

Otherwise it will be a gradual slide, I think, into the sunset for a national comp.

NBL website is updated (amazingly):

http://linky.com.au/amefo

"salary cap much lower, promote the bball career as a parttime activity with most or all players doing other (genuine) work," like in the WNBL???

Dana, reducing the salary cap could be a natural progression if these 2 teams go. The reason being is because there will now be 2 teams of umemployed players, the better ones will get picked up but because of the lack of opportunity (number of teams to compete for), they will be forced to take a lower salary. I doubt there would be overseas opportunities to fall back on for them because if there was, they would have already exercised that opportunity.

Oh yeah, everybody, that makes sense!! less money, that will solve the problem...that's how it stays so successful overseas and in the US,..LESS MONEY----NOT!!! Come on guys...use your heads, it's a business and needs to be run like one. They need to get free to air TV back for starters and then inject some serious cash to raise the fan base and get some top players. People won't come to see lame second rate players who could get paid more if they worked as accountants...that's not what professional sport is about, Good players won't play in the league if they can get paid more overseas, or even get paid the same to work a 9-5 job in the coorporate world, go figure!!

And if they don't have the cash ?

If there's no cash, there's no league. You simply cannot get backers for a second rate, half baked league, companies won't sponsor a game that has no public profile and "glamour". The reason they sponsor NBL teams is to gain advertising mileage and increase their product awareness, they don't do it out of a love for the game, they do it to associate their product with a certain image or market (I teach this stuff at TAFE). It's not rocket science, LESS MONEY - LESS PROFILE. And anyway, seriously, these players are people with lives, families, investments etc, they won't play for peanuts, they'll go overseas or seek emlpoyment in the coorporate world, they're not pawns in some big game that you can just move around wherever you please. Would you put up with injury, long term joint damage, constant travelling & seperation from your loved ones etc etc, for a meager wage?? I sure wouldn't, and I can guarrantee that their wives & girlfriends wouldn't put up with that either, and your kidding yourself if you think they don't play abis part in the decision making.