"They choose to run their club small and elite, they have to face the consequences of these outcomes."

And that is why they will stay playing at the Cage where they will make money.

For the Tiger there are no consequences - what, not getting as many people into the games? They are happy with the number they can hold at their stadium and their 2,000 regulars will get their seats, why would they care about catering for the opposition fans? especially the cross town rivals the Dragons?

I hope they do get 8-10,000 to the games @ Hisense.
Dragons had 3,500 to their G1 Semi vs Crocs (Tue night) and 3,000 to G3 vs Crocs (yes was up against A-League GF)

Tigers had 3,000 to G1 vs Breakers (BTW that number seems a stretch there were ALOT of empty seats!).


So out of that you would hope you can get them all going to a GF so 6-6,500 (some people would have gone to both Dragons and Tigers so would have been counted twice) plus the casual fans, lets see if the cross town GF can create a bit of a buzz in Melbourne and get the bums on seats.

something doesnt stack up for me,the tigers are the only team making a profit???? how does that work??
they have a roster that must have cost a fortune and a stadium that holds 3,000 people,the entry cost to a game must be about $200 p/p.
when they say "making a profit" is that against there alleged salary cost or the REAL salary cost????

Maybe they're getting a lot more sponsorship dollars than the other clubs, and the overheads of playing games at the SNHC are obviously much less than the entertainment centres e.t.c. that the other clubs use.

The ticket price of a tigers game would have to be one of the highest in the league.

How would they get a lot more sponsorship dollars when its a club that only attracts around 2,000 people? It doesn't stack up for me either, but having said that, whatever the Tigers do that makes it successful for them, they are competing in a league that can accommodate Tigers' fans and yet they won't pay the same courtesy back. That is selfish and unsportsmanlike.

There was a bit of fanfare a few years ago when teh Tigers established a sponsorship link with South East Asia. I don't recall the details and don't know the status of the relationship these days. However, the Tigers regularly tour China in the NBL off season and Andrew Gaze ran a tour last year, which may be linked to the Tigers and any SE Asia connection. Think they got reasonable crowds and good TV coverage. I've always wondered if through that relationship they have a source of income that other teams don't. Any Tigers people able to shed any light on that?

A lot of teams run tours in China. Kings were doing it years ago too.

I don't think the Tigers necessarily make a profit, more that expenses are hidden to make it seem like they do.

i have heard the tigers also do not promote or encourage families to games.
(obviously costs deter them)
how can that secure more sponsorship??

if they make money,good on them,but i dont see it as a positive model for the future of the sport!!

kids are the future of the game,there is so much competition from all sports(for kids) these days and was identified as a main focus for the new league, to get back in contact with the grass roots basketball.

with all this in mind, as well as cheating salary caps etc for the sake of rich guys bragging rights, i dont see anything positive the tigers are doing.

they will win the g/f this season....
they will have acheived nothing!!

Hard to promote families going to the Tigers games with the team owner sitting under one of the backboards screaming profanities at both his players and the refs if his team is not winning....
Not an ideal environment to take the kids into.

They already are anon.

anon- "they will have achieved nothing"

obviously your idea of achieving and mine, differ.

the last few seasons the direction the tigers basketball club has taken,regardless of championships,shows it is not a prospering community minded club.
i do understand the winning/ business side of sport,however the balance of the two is the key to long term success,ON and OFF the court!

my main point is that i dont think the directon they seem to have chosen is in the best interest of the game in australia

That's the other thing that is annoying about this and that is the Tigers will have all their
3000 fans at all the games because the Dragons can accommodate them, however the Dragons will only have a handful of fans if they are lucky enough to get tickets to the away game. A bit of an imbalance in fan representation.

Same thing would happen with a final in Perth, NZ, etc. So be it.

Where's Lethal Vertical when he's needed in a thread

i am not talking about one off donations or acts of generosity.
(although i am sure they are very much appreciated by people)

i am talking about sporting models for the future of basketball in oz.
community based with sound business strategies and marketing in place that reach out to both the families and the corporate world (and everything in between)

when i take my kids to nbl games they absolutley love it.the fun they have and the smiles on there faces worth the entry fee alone.
my point being,when we have fun like that as a family it certainly makes my wallet open a lot easier.little johnny gets a mascot doll,his older brother gets a singlet and a ball etc

what i am saying is,if your business plan as a sporting franchise does not encase families and the corporate world as one, it cant be very sound!!

Dicko - please don't tell him that we're here...

Skull - I got your point first time around, but I think it's just a bit hard to get across by making it about the "community". Realistically, it's more about the NBL community itself and working to raise the profile of all clubs together rather than hide away in a smallish stadium and your own profits. That's often been the criticism.

These clubs all compete on court, but they should be united everywhere else - sharing ideas to succeed and work towards a common goal of better TV deals, better collaborative marketing, etc.

Do you want concrete irrefutable proof of those examples?

The 36ers encouraged kids by offering really cheap season tickets when purchased with their parent's season tickets. I have direct evidence of this by the couple I transport to every game who purchased season tickets for their 2 grand children even though they would only be attending half the games. It was still worthwhile for what they paid and it reserved decent seats for them all season. I am not sure if the Tigers did anything like this but if they did I find it difficult to see how they made money with so few supporters.

Isaac, I don't see how the same thing would have happened in Perth, NZ etc when there is only 1 team in those cities. I am referring to bringing all the fans of the 2 teams competing in the grand final together because they live in the same city. Finals anywhere else would not attract many fans of the visiting team because of the travel involved.

Its a pity that as a fan of basketball and a student, i cant even afford to go to the Cage. Why support them when they dont care about us.

You're judging a situation that is unique to just one city in Australia for the NBL. I think criticism of the Tigers for not really advertising and pushing the league as a whole has some merit, but not really just because opposition fans might not get a seat (when the same is true in other venues around the league).

But it's not just opposition fans that won't get a ticket is it? Surely once season tickets are out of the equation the remaining 1500 seats (or whatever) are open to the quickest bidders once they go on sale irrespective of whether they're Tigers or Dragons fans? It's not like European soccer where opposistion supporters are segregated from the masses with a ring of police protecting them.

Isaac, its this uniqueness that prompted this argument in the first place and the intention of this thread. Its a situation that has actually happened leaving fans of the Dragons left out in the cold. As billo said, the remaining tickets after season ticket holders are open to the quickest bidders regardless of which team they support. This means that the Tigers aren't even doing some their own fans any favours. The arrogance of this club is proved time and time again.

So what? If Wollongong made a grand final against Sydney and Sydney fans travelled down for the game, were it a sell out, they'd be left out in the cold too. Some Adelaide fans missed out on Maher's last home game because the game sold out.

It happens.

It's not arrogance just because they can't fit in fair-weather fans who show up at the tail of the season. It's putting the club before the league, playing out of a smallish venue to minimise costs and, as an extension of minimising spending, not really advertising the sport.

The path they take give them more to spend on smashing the cap - you know, that "be in it to win or don't bother" concept you want to see in Adelaide.

"fair-weather fans who show up at the tail of the season" - I'm sure the season ticket holders alone who have supported both teams for the whole season outnumber 3000. I am not familiar with the stadium that Spirit play out of but I know Wollongong can fit in a lot more than The Netball Centre.