The Kings group have no interest in being in the nNBL.
They tried to meet with the nNBL chairman and was refused an audience.
For the nNBL to expect to see new interest and clubs in the comp., they have NO business plan. No guarantees and NFI.
In the words on one NBL person, "more of the same".
How can Seamus buy the Sixers, when they currently don't have an nNBL approved licence?

I thought that (the not as great as the real) Moz said no Sydney = no Fox deal?

I live in Sydney, but if they can cover the money and get the crowds it really is better for the sport if Cairns get in. If they have the money now then BA should really just allow them in.

Interesting comment, curious. A serious group in the run for a license wasn't given a meeting? Who on earth do the basketball folk think they are?

To be clear, the current CEO of the AFL has been willing to meet with everyone who had a potential bid for an expansion license- including the Tasmanian bid which was never going to get off the ground (but arguably should). That's the broad equivalent of Bill Gates being willing to come to your school to sell a couple of copies of extra copies of Word whilst the guy at your local computer shop says "fuck off, it sells itself!".

woll is close enough to syd for fox to get by??? same as GC & Bris???

unless there is a promise of a team next season... even if it is run by BA

If their intention was "we want to market a team to the Sydney market" there's no way that Wollongong is close enough to Sydney, unless they are back peddling on that demand (which if the demand was real in the first place is awesome, BA has more dealing dealer dealroom deals than we thought!).

no it's alaso about the cost of broadcast - travel and set up to Woll is nothing

There isn't any fox money to divide up the 35 million is there cost to cover all the games.If Perth are waiting for some fox money they won't get any no one will.

Ahhh, gotcha Rod. For someone reason I thought it was about the market (how sweetly naive!).
Agreed it's little extra cost for them to get to the gong.

Latest here.
A Gaze laking info.

Also contrary to that DJR is suggesting re Cairns, this quote from the FOX article.
"Those teams would include Gold Coast, Townsville and almost certainly Cairns, who have fought their way back from financial disaster to have a "very good chance" of being in the new NBL. "
Gaze also said "Gaze made it clear that a television deal with Fox Sports was not dependent on teams from Brisbane and Sydney being a part of the proposed competition." and ""The likelihood of there being no season is remote. I'm very confident there will be a season."

Funnily enough when JR & I interview Andrew Gaze on 'The OT', he said that the FOX deal DID depend on a team from Sydney and Brisbane and that GC would suffice (for now) for Brisbane.

the gongers and not cairns??
oh dear,jawaii...baynes... the cairns program i would have thought was a model the newbl would have been endorsing.
obviously the cairns nbl model lost its way, but that won't happen again.

a.gaze might find it hard to swallow but,for him it is time to get in the back seat pal,your not driving!!

there wil be no ducking and weaving from larry,he will take it on the chin!!

'thank god the smoke and mirrors thing is gone andrew'

Well i'm looking forward to the accoumnet of the teams especally if the Hawks are going to be in.

I doubt Seamus has purchased the Dome. I am pretty sure Boti would be all over that & would have been an official annoucement. Why would he purchase the dome without the team? I'd say it would be a condition of the transaction - the dome & the 36ers in order to proceed. How would his business model work without the team?

I am not saying Seamus won't purchase the dome / 36ers as we know he is interested but anyless your the financiar I don't know how you can come & report that the Dome has been sold.

Also Cairns will be a lock for the new NBL. Were is the risk for the NBL? They have their 1 Mill bank guarantee & the backing of the local community. The 36ers don't have their Bank Guarantee & uncertanity over the current ownership but you have included them in the new comp.........

I think it is pretty simple - BA don't want Cairns or Woll in the league... they have an 'out' for Cairns as they did not get the bank guarantee in time for the cut off date due to the Qld Election being called.

They are fairly shitty that Woll got everything to satisfy the criteria and still can't believe it - but then again they satisfy FOX (somewhat).

GC is a desired franchise because it is just the cool thing to do for a sporting code to have a team there... once Brisbane is up and running I'm not so sure.

I thought you can't have 1 owner in the new system anyway. I would also like cairns over the hawks, as they have shown they can get the crowds in the past at a consistent level.

If Cairns is left out of the nNBL it would be a grave mistake .We have got the big buck guarantee we have got over 700k in work cap and we have the best bunch of organisers to turn the Taipans into a profitable concern. The Gong may have got the 1mill shority but they did not have the 500k working capital.
Cairns has a chance to bring NBL basketball back to the grassroots level where it should starts and this would give our kids something to aspire to .
Cairns has always had a great crowd of dedicated fans whre southern teams and the wedst are flat out drawing 1000 people to there games

Cmon give us some support......

Big call with Seamus!
We might have to add a bit of green to the tri-colours if true.

Mark - I am from Townsville and I give you my full support. I love the Townsville/Cairns rivalry and hope we get another chance to beat up on each other on the court and pay out on each other off it.

Unfortunately, I don't see it happening.

I heard that the Brisbane Spartans, a team in the SEABL league are almost approved of their bid for the Brisbane NBL license..

Can't see why the Hawks won't get in apprently have meet all the required cartica, like having the 1 million dollers bank guratuor. I for one will be annoyed if they don't get in after they have been informed they meet all selected catiaca.

Mark this space - GC will play 3-6 home games in Brisbane cos they think it'll be the right thing to do to get fans for the brissy team next year - another indication that THEY JUST DON'T GET IT!!!


If you don't get it either, then imagine you followed the bullets.

maybe newbl should re-negotiate with fox or put the whole thing back out to tender.
it doesnt sound like that great of a deal anyway!

the juggling act of grassroots basketball the corporate world(bullies)and pro sports is going to be THE challenge for larry,one that i hope he can nail straight up.
not everyone will be happy with the outcome though.

cairns/woollongong,the comparisons stop there.

the cairns programme is one of the best grassroots programmes in australia, producing local kids to go on and play aba,nbl,ncaa,nba.
"i rest my case"

i am going to be spewing if there is no team in sydney

i love basketball and i will continue to follow the nnbl but these guys are a bunch of muppets tryna run the league. I was in my early teens when i went to the king dome to see ken mclarry and dwayne mclain and i would love to see andre la fluer or mike mitchell come in to town. Me and my boys would go to every game it was sold out all the time man. Look now whats happening someone was doing somethimg right in the mid nineties. Someone is obviously doing the wrong thing now.

Please guys pik up ur act

Woody - They aint gonna just put a team in just for the sake of it. If there is no one willing to invest in it, you cant blame the nNBL.

Sometimes I'm not sure whether Gaze is speaking as a FOX commentator or as a BA board member.

basket73...did you get that news from their GM ...then take the grain of salt as well

skull...larry will struggle with lots of things.... IMO a poor appointment despite him being an outstanding individual

woody....why blame the league for the demise of the kings, big Mike had a profitable formula, it was the owners after that who changed it up

camel31... don't worry, gaze doesn't know either

HO.....i would have thought that larry's appointment would have got at least a good/average vote from the majority of people,poor,being a little harsh.
don't worry,i was flying the flag of business brain first, b'ball brain second, as well.

ok ,the white knight didn't ride in on his white horse and save the day, but i feel we got a hell of a lot closer.

when larry speaks to the corporate world, i am sure they will have the respect to listen,once again that is a hell of a lot closer than we have ever been!!

skull.... you underestimate derwin, who has been extraordinary at what he has got from Government - particularly when the Boomers screwed up in 2001.

the first job the new CEO has to do is get delivery of the same type of funds injection that Football got when they reformed.....not just the ongoing funds they get from the ASC for the elite program.

FWIK Larry doesn't have any real corporate background. Comm games is certainly not that, and he lost his main job just before the games were held which is not a good sign (he might have been a victim of politics but at the time it did not look good). Since then he's been consulting (again FWIK)....and consultants do not make a whole heap of decisions.

HO.... how am i underestimating a past ceo's performance ?? he was in charge of a sport that has been going backwards in every sense,except the one area he had little or no impact on (on court).
quite a performance,i dont know of that ever happening with another sport in oz.

basketball needs to be on an even playing field as far as government funding goes.
if larry can hold up his end of the bargain,i think it can come together as a package.

skull, that is just wrong... long post but here's why i think that.

Until the past few months, Derwin has had absolutely no "charge" of the NBL which has been the declining part of the sport. I can find no evidence of decline outside of that.

He took the sport from a financial basketcase in the late 90's to a solid financial base now.

....participation has continued to grow throughout the last decade.

....Derwin brought in a truly national insurance scheme that saves associations thousands each. (in fact by my estimate each association would be forking out at least 4k each more without it)

....he has overseen the structural unifying of the sport at a time when everyone has been saying that it is the best way forward

... and you can't have it both ways...you can't crucifying the CEO and staff of BA when our high performance areas underperform (2001) and then say they have no role in it when we do perform well (and ALL of our teams have exceeded expectations in the last 2-3 years)

.... he has twice in the last ten years maintained the WNBL's position with the ABC on live TV when it was threatened.

Again, for the sake of all those who do not understand (not you Skull) - BA has virtually no discretionary income (they get less than $4.00 from each registered player in australia) and without the NBL as a property, have had virtually nothing to sell save Boomers and Opals which would be a difficult sell.

The AFL generate almost all their discretionary income around the elite competition, as do NRL, Cricket etc. BA have had no access to that and the NBL has failed to deliver but Derwin and BA have not been running the NBL.

And here are some comparisions.....Softball and baseball have both been in significant decline, Hockey (still an olympic sport) has declined rapidly in terms of results. Netball's leading team, the Diamonds, has gone from a position of dominating other teams in the world to struggling regularly wih the Kiwis. Rugby Union has seriously struggled, dropped its national league, lost massive amounts of cash.....Rugby league has hurt because of PR issues, while our national cricket teams have gone from world beating champs to so so performers. So I can think of a few.

and sorry, I really want LS to succeed. I just see nothing in his resume....or his so called 'corporate' background that puts him anywhere near the class of a guy like Ben Buckley at FFA which was a comparable appointment.

Hopefully this is LS's time and the perfect role for him. I just don't glibly believe the stuff that comes out in a press release...I prefer to go and find stuff out for myself, as you can probably tell from the above post.

ho... i am talking about the nbl as a product,not the social and national levels,which have been great.
i congratulate scott on that,great job now let's follow it through.

with regards to other sports i was referring to those that had excelled in the above areas plus on court/field skill levels(nbl) but had diminished in popularity very significantly.

i am glad you enjoy going out and finding stuff out for yourself,keep up the good work!!

skull-I'm with HO I understand where you're coming from but as you said rugby, netball etc. has been dominating internationally, but so has basketball? I believe if he had some decent proposal there's no reason why government wouldn't put some funding into it. So what that come down to?

Ok so NBL has nothing to do with him but national games has so little advertising too. With the pre-Olympic matches last year that was hardly known by the rest of the country even in the cities the game was held. Who's responsible for that?

LA Boy ... we are, as participants the amount we pay our governing body to participate is pathetic.

Asking BA to fund advertising campaigns is like asking your local fish and chip shop to deliver a 5 star silver service meal....it ain't gonna happen because they ain't got the resources.

err I'm just saying rugby, cricket etc. all got good funding from government why not basketball?

You walk into AIS facility you see a small room for basketball and everything else big as hell; especially swimming.

LA Boy, Basketball are one of the better funded ASC sports but also run one of the biggest international programs, so its a fair bit of cash splashed around a fair few teams. Rugby and Crickey would not get the amount basketball do but they are not olympic sports. But its not this funding i am talking about.

My earlier references to Larry are the reform type funding which football gathered from the ASC in ADDITION to its elite funding.

My previous post was in answer to your question as to "who is responsible" for poor advertising leading into international series etc.

i hope this is what the reform process achieves,to put all levels of basketball on to the one page.
it has been such a disjointed sport for so long you can see why the funding world(government and corporate)can't take it serious.

recently my 6yo son joined soccer(because there is no b'ball)which cost us $65 for the season.he recieved a training bag which had drink bottles,shin gaurds etc all with australian govt badges stuck all over them.

i live in very far north qld,so it must be one hell of a campaign with a lot of funds to get this far.
i am not sure what percentage of the $65 would go to soccer aust,but it is a model b/a needs to look at.

How can Seamus buy the Sixers, when they currently don't have an nNBL approved licence?

Soccer Federation of Australia received a total of $32 million in funding from the Aust Govt for a variety of initiatives including the a-league, participations & development.

Basketball Australia has placed a proposal similar to that of Soccer to the government for funds and should be approved in this upcoming federal budget, does anyone know that amount they applied for?

They said in the review we had to rly on less goverment less.

So go figure, -- bit brainless

Cant the nbl say they hold aspirations to put teams in (jakarta, Hong Kong, Taipei, singapore, guam etc) - which may be true and therefore get funding?

HO- Skull just said it all, not enough funding in basketball

LAboy- one of the main points that HO made here is that as participants of a sport at a domestic level our contribition to b/a is $4 per year,staggering really!!
my question is in my last post, how much of my sons $65 registration fee goes to soccer aust,which is over and above the $32 million from govt.

over the years there has been a major breakdown of our basketball system, not due to any one persons fault but a combination of things not related to the game, greed,mismanagement,glory seeking and rich guys ego's.
as a self confessed addict of the game for nearly 40 years all i can say is'thank god for a fresh start'

good luck larry,most of us are behind you!!

The intention is to play asian championships 2011-2012