nutter
Years ago
NBL not for spectators
No matter what people say professional sport will always be about money making. The main income for sporting clubs and professional leagues are TV rights, sponsors and paying spectators. in saying this at the moment the NBL really has NONE of these, very few teams are getting consistantly good crowds and many are struggling to get major sponsors.
For a while now ive been trying to figure out why this is when places like America and Europe are managing all of these things and are making HUGE money.
It took me a while but ive realised the things that we love in our sport are not necessarily the things that bring in the spectators. The things like using the whole shot clock, the team orientated offences that dont often show off the array of ball skills these players really have.
In saying this I think that he NBA has it 100% right when it comes to making basketball a spectator sport. Slight rule changes like an extended three point line for the long bombs. Defensive three seconds that allow the more skilled players to just about walk through the key to dunk it though traffic and the relaxed travel rules. To the basketballer like you and I we almost laugh at the NBA when we see people taking three or even four steps before dunking or laying-up but to anyone who doesn't know the game very well couldn't care less how many steps someone takes they just want to see big dunks and big shots.
All this being said I wonder if the NBL could adapt any of these type of rules to help bring in some bigger crowds. Maybe not all of them or even the same ones, but maybe some of our own rules that will help the NBL become more of a spectator sport and hopefully bring in more money because lets face it all of the money is based around spectators, more spectators means bigger crowds, bigger crowds means more sponsors AND possibly better TV rights. The one thing the NBL has got going for it is that it is played in summer and away from the AFL and NRL seasons so there is potential for big crowds.
What are peoples thoughts on this? Maybe some ideas for rule changes?
I just hope the NBL managment realises that things need to cahnge before its to late.
