i agree and confirm this, gez no team from melbourne or sydney, the two biggest markets.

The league CAN NOT GO AHEAD THIS YEAR

no way possible they can go ahead. there are NO teams with a decent fan base left (assuming 36ers are out).

as I said in other threads this seems to be a strike taken by owners over unresolved issues during those "confidential" meeting they had. Seems like owners may really start their own league.

Apparently they just want a real reform and to be part of the new league.

i expect perth to be next to make an announcement

Start their own league- do you think people are going to pay to put their bums on seats to watch teams with no imports that can't get clearance to play here and still under the McPeake/ Cowan circus?

The only way the game will have real reform is if neither of those two assclowns are in it!

Ben- didn't know that but I believe that is the case since BA has done jack all in making decisions to have a direct positive impact for the league. All it's trying to do from day 1 was to avoid their own embarrasement by bring onboard the $1m bank guarrantee. This doesn't address any of their major issues that's causing this decline. Furthermore, trying to change the format of the game. Bad decisions.

If they were to spend more time planning on making this league and clubs profitable, then they won't need no guarrantee in the first place. And that's why I've said their approach has been wrong all along.

i dont see a rival league happening as of yet. They would need fiba approval for imports etc as well which really it will be alligned to BA.

The league needs to realise that they have to sit it out and not rush the new league. Interesting on fox sports headlines raphael geminder has savaged the officals behind the reform. If you have fox go to fox sports press the red button and read the sport headline story.

no i am a big believer in the 1m gurantee, if a club shuts its doors, the league can then pay out players officals etc .. this is responsible and i think very important.

Just because some owners say they have the money and shouldnt require to put up is wrong. we all new eddy groves had money but look what happened to him.

The 1 million should stay and always be part of the licence. Cowan and co who say we are good for it i am sorry its wrong and we must avoid the bullets, sydney, cairns fiasco of the nbl getting involved.

LA Boy, I normally agree with the majority of your posts but as someone who has seen the extensive criteria and knew from day dot it would be impossible to set up the new format in an off-season, you are way beyond the mark.
If you knew what was in the criteria, you'd know the reason why it's taking so long is because they ARE trying to make it profitable, and not just for the same people each year.
If you want, email Isaac and ask for my email address and I'll email it to you if it means I no longer have to read inaccurate generalisations based on the bash BA bandwagon- it's getting very old.

Exactly- the guarantee isn't the problem, it's those that think they're too big and too important to play by the same rules as everyone else and then snowballs into other areas where they lack respect for the rules based on having a long leash in the past.

Will the last club out of the NBL please turn off the lights?

the $1m bank guarrantee shouldn't even be the focal point of this whole discussion since as I said it's not a change that will directly help better the league. Other than avoiding league embarrassment

I'm also 100% sure all owners would be willing to comply with that $1m if the league has shown some significant changes. But obviously not.

HAHA- I weren't part of the BA bashing bandwagon until everything they've done seem to be all talks. in the Foxsport article it stated the league has failed their promises and I think that would support my thoughts on BA.

At the time of the merge between BA and NBL, I was all for this move but I really think it has been empty promises and they need to really sit this season out, close this thing out for a month and CHILL!

The bank guarantee HAS been the focal point for most of you, because it's pretty much the part of the extensive criteria anybody is familiar with!
If you're that interested in the game being fixed, why are you not interested to know what's in it?
Don't you feel you're talking out of turn when you bash BA and say the bank guarantee won't fix everything?
BA haven't said that, so why is everybody assuming that's their only angle?
If you know more about the criteria and what needs to be implemented, you can have conversations about it at a higher level that have nothing to do with the bank guarantee- I assure you the guarantee is hardly the most interesting part of reform.
The ones who are having trouble with changes are the clubs that still want what they've always had- the game cannot move forward with that sense of entitlement mentality just because they have more money and have got away with certain things in the past that should not have happened.

Correct me if I am wrong but is basketball not an Olympic sport? Where are we to pick our players from, the ABA?! What the hell has happened to this great game?! This whole situatation is just crap. Love the way BA is telling us nothing, but then again, we are only the paying customer.

The season NEEDS to be deferred- not because rogues want it, but because it's in the best interests of the sport and cannot be put together in an off-season.
it was always going to be that way- when I suggested so 6 weeks ago I got eaten alive.

la boy, the issue is that two owners dont want to put up the bank guarantee, they say that they are good for it.

If you read that fox article the dragons owner states we have paid our debts, players etc ... read btw the lines there .. they dont want to put up the 1 million and know they will go on a campaign to make the BA look incompetent, dragons are the kings of spin.

dragons believe one rule for them and some for the others..

i agree with the dragons owner and seamus that BA And co should work together and launch a great new competition in 12 months time. Rather than a rushed one. this will also give time for clubs like adelaide and anyone else who want to join the new league raise funds, rather than an off season.

HAHA- I've always suggested to take out the 09~10 season so you have my support there and I recall you getting eaten that time too lol. I don't think taking a year out would have as dramatic effect as people think. If they can get their stuff right (eg. TV deals), basketball fans are basketball fans; it's not like without NBL people'll stop playing basketball.

as far as the rest of my bash about BA, when they've turn this situation around, I'll take my hats off to them and would gladly to. Right now, I'm ready to lay this to rest (don't think anything will help) and just follow the flow of whatever happens...

I don't believe taking a year off will hurt the sport at all either if they can implement the changes that are in the criteria the following season, you'll not even notice if they had a year off- you'd be singing their praises!
All sides have played a part in things dragging on the way they have, but I assure you BA have been more than generous in the amount of time they've given clubs to get their shit together- heck- even BQ can't argue with that- 3 times they had their time extended to have key parts met and failed to come up with the goods and instead gave excuses.... they have been generous in their defence and very upfront about the conditions they want met for coaching clinics, the way payments need to be made to players, etc.
The only part I don't agree with, is where they had the $50m in working capital or something I forget from memory because it was not in any documents that anybody could've known about for several months as an alternative that was in lieu of the bank guarantee and came up out of nowhere.

Again a bit hard to follow - McPeake sold the Tigers to dodo , a few days ago.

It is only temporarily depressing, but to those that could see it coming when the criteria was released, we've had a bit more time to prepare for the possibility.... or should I now say, necessity.

The players unfortunately are going to have to find a way around it- we've known the game has been suffering for a number of years now- as soon as DSEG were hired to conduct a Review we've known there'd be a possibility that things would get uncomfortable before they'd get better- it's a sad fact of change.
Everybody goes through unstable periods of change at work and even reluctant unchosen unemployment at some stage of their career regardless of what you do for a living.
Let's hope that if they do defer and players do something else for a year that they come back with more gratitude than before and understand the need to nurture the game that looks after them and never get too big for their boots like the downhill path that began in the 90's.

Some of the comments are so sad. Saying you do not want a rogue league with the same suspects such as Cowan???

Grow up, he has had very little influence, it has more to do with Peake and former clubs.

To the Dragons, goood on you for making a stand, a new league isnt going to work unless we have the money to advertise and get good players.

Not so I'm afraid!

I don't think the players will be an issue because not that many will get Europe contracts so they'll be unemployeed for a year just like many others around the world. The league may lose guys like Anstey (early retirement), Barlow (Europe), Wortho (Europe) etc. But I'm sure others like Shane McDonald, Rhys Carter, Daniel Joyce etc. (notice I had to include their first name lol) will come back to the league once it relaunches. If they're smart they'll just keep working hard and always be on-call for whatever comes up whilst get a part time job somewhere.

Perhaps finally getting some community-based work (eg. clinics) done to win fans before the league relaunches.

As far as losing the big names? Without a raise in cap space, many are bound to go anyway. So as long as the relaunch is profitable the standards will be back in a short time.

My biggest concern for the league is marketing, if that's straight, everything else will take care of itself.

LA Boy - let me get this straight, we have one of the best leagues in the world,but "not many will get contracts in europe"
if we dont increase the salary cap "they will leave anyway"

i am not sure which side of the fence you are on, but in australia mate we call a spade a spade.

who the f are you? a journalist? quoting people and crafting their original meaning?

NBL is one of the better leagues in the world as far as standard is concerned but I never said it's one of the "best".

I'm saying you guys need to raise the salary caps to not lose "big names" off to Europe, they ARE the not that many who'll get offers. And I've clearly set the line on who (the majority) may not be offered to Europe. I should have made it more clearer by saying their "premiers" league, if they're offered by a 2nd tier Euro league they'll probably come back anyway.

And let's just leave the culture thing out of this buddy. You're following an American sport?

also i suggest many wouldnt get a gig as they would have to be an import for european clubs if they didnt have a european passport. so i really cant see many australians going to europe actually i cant see any going.

Who's damn stupid idea was it to go for a league change anyway?

So a few clubs have gone under - the financial crisis has hit EVERYONE and EVERYTHING, and there are going to be casualties. But that doesn't mean you completely shutdown the NBL and revamp.

Basketball clubs (and their owners) rarely make money, they're put together by people with too much money or who need favours done on a social/poltical scale. If the Dragons/Tigers owners are feeling the pinch they've just been given the perfect opportunity to pull out (something we don't want).

Rumour is Perth are next. Back to having a season off.

Main reason Cowan is out is that his 50% co-owner has dropped out, I think.

The comments from Mcpeake hit the airwaves on ch9.
But according to Gaze in today's Sunday Mail article on the subject. McPeake has resigned from Tigers board, and the NBL is going ahead, at this stage.

read the letter to dragons peopleon the south dragons website from owner Geminder it explains their situation. Seems to me they want to be involved but not inthekind of league thatis being put together.

like someone else said (think it was HAHA or Drb), there's always 2 sides to the story. While I won't discount that letter but I'd also be reserved about it.

I read the letter.
Failed to mention he wanted McPeake's Board spot vacated 2 weeks ago.
Took his bat and ball and went home.
That's pretty much it.
(God I love when people write an "open" letter with half truths to get support and discredit an organisation that rightly said no more to laying with dogs that have an agenda only to wake up with fleas.)

http://linky.com.au/8b8ab

http://linky.com.au/hido5

just found this out...

on Friday night players' meeting, everybody's getting a pay cut. during which Seamus also "quit" the job and then returned later that night. But now has stepped back a bit.

and apparently this whole Tigers not joining drama is a "bluff" to put pressure on the league so they can get what they want. and as I was suspecting before, whether Dragons are officially gone too?

I think Tigers (perhaps Dragons?) really took this step with a nothing to lose attitude where if due to press release they can't be back, they'll just have the league started next season. No lost. On the other hand, if they're back in, nothing changes.

Well technically McPeake sold the Tigers to Dodo and after that spoke on behalf of a club he longer owns saying they wouldn't be competing- they returned fire saying something to the effect of it not being appropriate for him to speak on their behalf and nothing of the sort had been decided at that point in time.
I agree there's a bit of bluffing going on or so it seems, but whether either team is in or not, I think for many of us the reform process is more important.

Stick it to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane... If they cant get on board then thats there bad luck push on and make it work. then lets see how long it takes these self righteous owners to change there tune. Who do they honestly think they are benefiting by pulling out? anyone but themselves... dont Think so. How will it benefit the fans? how will it benefit the players? how will it benefit the sport? if they have the money and love the game they will accept BA's terms and conditions and welcome the 'new' game.

I cant believe people are advocating the NBL having 12 months off.

From my point of view my husband & I have been season ticket holders of the 6ers since the last year of Apollo stadium. We have increased our season tickets to four seats to accommodate our two kids.

I love the 6ers; however if we have lost most of our good players (Schenc, Ballinger, Maher retired) then the people in "the know" decide to have 12 months off I fear the NBL will become extinct.

Quite frankly if they take 12 months off my family will probably stop going altogether. I am not going to support a half assed NBL that cant play a regular season year in year out.

I think that some of these big time owners (2 bob millionaires) should wake up and realize that they have been part of the problem all along... some of them certainly are not the solution.

The Tigers have been sold to Dodo? Was that a joke, because we all know what happened to the Dodo's, don't we?

Somehow I don't think it's all about us- there are several sides to keep happy here.