I was in sydney and there was a poster up at my gym and i went. i didn't realise it was being televised on fox till i saw andrew gaze's big grin hooning around at the game. There were roughly 3500 ppl there

I saw an ad on Fox this afternoon, which didn't exactly grab my attention and fill me with enthusiasm (i.e. I instantly forgot the game was on). That's the extent of the marketing I saw for the game.

2100, far cry from what the Soceroo's get to games these days :-(

it was a poor showing, but people just didnt kno.
the marketing manager for the wollongong hawks didnt even know it was on.

the crowd was too quiet also, i got told by a woman in front of me to quiet down! haha

I think in these sorts of games, it has to be campaign on many fronts to get people's attention. It has to be blanket across all media to grab people's attention. The players are the best marketing tool and they should have been on tv shows, sports wraps etc in the leadup. I think Jawai did appear on the footy show during the week, but not really basketball's support base there.

I think Basketball Australia, has to put in more money initially to market the game again, if they marketed it right, it's a fact they should have got more than 3000 people to an international game of basketball.

I really can't see Basketball Australia being the God send that basketball needs in this country. Unfortunately someone else has to pick up the shortfall, and at the moment there is no-one else.

Even though this event was run by BA (I am assuming), you would think the NBL would have a vested interest in this, come see our best players play together on the eve of our season start.

Massive oppurtunity missed.

So am I correct, Boti made no direct reference to this game, when it was been played, who was playing etc? Me memeory he said some Sixer players had upcoming Boomer games, but that was about it.

Unfortunately Basketball Australia (based in Sydney) still thinks that basketball in Australia revolves around Sydney. The publicity was pathetic to the extreme. If you venture to the BA website there was mention of the game and where to buy tickets. But no mention in the print or radio media. Larry and the team have obviously not learnt from the past or did they really care about the game. Both teams will go to the World Championships and all these games achieve is the winner gets a higher seeding. As previously posted if the game had been in Melbourne or Adelaide there probably would have been a larger crowd. For those interested (and have Foxtel) I believe the return match is being shown but I can't seem to find out when or on what channel?

BA is still in Sydney.

The next game is on Tuesday Live at 5 on Fox sports 3

BA is definitely still based in Sydney.

Foxtel's production of basketball has moved to their Melbourne office which makes the decision to play the game in Sydney even more perplexing.

Basketball's heartland in this country remains in Melbourne. However basketball is still strong in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. Plus people in these captial cities actually turn up to watch games, unlike in Sydney.

The game was promoted on Foxtel and a few other appearances during the past week, like on Sunrise (or was it the show on after Sunrise?), the footy show etc.

However this kind of promotion should start through being promoted through the local Associations and then built up in the week or two lead up to the event in the media. As far as I am aware, there was no promoption at Association level for this game.

What has happened to the "One Basketball" concept?

ANON12, I think there was a big "buy tickets" promo on the BA site.

Anonymous Reply 271777. Kevy47 is correct. BA is still based in Sydney with a location (on the website) of Mascot. The majority of staff at BA are from NSW (I believe) and I can't see them moving any time in the near future. Someone must have given you the wrong info.
But that really is not relevant. The fact of the matter is that the majority of staff have been there for a long time and they don't seem to learn from past mistakes or take on board adverse criticism.
The promotion of these games between the Boomers and NZ was a chance to improve their image, and they stuffed it up again. Or, as I previously posted, did they really care.
Were you aware that the Opals have just played a 3 match series against China (which they won) and that they also take on NZ (Tall Ferns) in Canberra on the 2nd of September (?? a Wednesday)? What publicity have the Opals games been given? Larry and his team certainly need to lift their games. But after all this is Basketball Australia and fans don't really expect much given past history.

I'm sick of defending sydney fans on this forum, but people who dont live there and follow basketball dont know how hard it is to get to the stadium. It's not near any sort of business or housing hub and is about 45 minutes from western sydney and 25 minutes from central sydney. The olympic stadium was built on the cheap by the then state government which is why it wasn't put on the major train line, this means you have to drive there for basketball and parking costs $16.

Could the people bagging out sydney's fickle supporters please consider BA's ineptitude as well? The game would have been better suited in hindsight to be at liverpool in sydney's true west, which holds 3000 people.

Quick check of todays paper in the back sport section

2 pages to AFL
1 Page to athletics
1 page to Ashes
2 pages to soccer
2 pages of misc which includes a one tiny paragraph snippet about this game.

Once again, Netball gets more coverage than Basketball - they get it right, why can't we?

Even the NRL and BMX racing gets a bigger write up.

i understand the concept of why BA played the game in sydney,exposure of the game etc,but it failed in its attempt.
if the game is ever going to survive in sydney it may need to start at the bottom.
relocate to a better position,new stadium,rename(south sydney 76ers etc)
there is no reason why the game shouldnt flourish in sydney,there seems to be a lot of reasons it doesnt.

Agree with skull, and building Sydney team from scratch. I think we need to learn from Melbourne and Adelaide a little here to.

I think the way you guys run the juniors and your clubs is key here. Sydney has huge potential if we get it right. I am sure there is heaps of basketball talent here, it's just not nutured enough.

Perhaps some of the big guns and leaders on the Melbourne scene need to help come rescue Basketball in this city. Something needs to be done, a Facebook group to rescue and form a Sydney team is just not going to do it i'm afraid.

curtley, it takes me 40 minutes to drive from the Northern Suburbs to the Dome and I pay $8.00 a game to park (probably more this year).

You talk about the cost and travel time involved yet for some strange reason Adelaide supporters can do exactly what I'm doing in their thousands.

Parking costs mean nothing (especially if you're going with mates; since you can split the parking fees) and 25 - 40 minutes travel time is nothing either.

Unfortunately for yourself, the state government doesn't do public surveys to find out where the Basketball fans live, so wake up and live up to the fact you're going to have to move or just drive there. If you're complaning about $16.00 parking, perhaps you should remember you live in Sydney; they expect people to pay ridiculous amounts for base amenities.

If parking is a problem, petition with the next Sydney Franchise to do something about it and cover half the cost.

I was already critical on the other thread about the game being played in Sydney, but I do want to hand out some kudos to BA for getting good quality video of the game up on their site already. The embedded Foxsports game clip and the amateur videos shot from the sideline they have been putting up for the last half dozen or so Boomers games have been good.

I would say that this doesn't compensate for the seeming lack of solid grass roots promotion and the bad decision to play the game in a city that has proven to be very poor at supporting basketball for a long time now. But it is an improvement to get good quality footage that is easy to access online.

The other BIG improvement was the live boxscore (is it Sportal?). Don't know how well it functioned live, but I just looked at it a few minutes ago and its nice to see that someone has taken the time to include a sortable shot chart, easy to read and navigate box scores and play by plays. MASSIVE improvement over the rubbish that has passed for onine stats for NBL games over the past couple of years. So well done whoever has sorted that stuff out.

Wasn't that boxscore format the same as the live scores for the NBL last year? FIBA's system adopted by Sporting Pulse, AFAIK.

I agree with Big Marty to an extent. It takes me over an hour to get to the basketball but I do it. Over the lat two years the two Melbourne teams averaged a combined 7-8000, and most of them came from mid-outer suburban areas, meaning between 30-60 mins travel time.

I dont mind the decision to play the game in Sydney. Perth and Melbourne attracted approx 3000 to their games last year, so 2200 - which looked ok on the tv – is not terrible. But the players being on the Sydney footy show and the other bits of publicity were good for basketball, reminding people the sport is still around given BA want a team there next year.

But with there being about 2300 spare seats, it would have been worth getting the players in the squad, in pairs, out to 8 of the schools in the area for a half day and giving out $49 family passes.

I personally think it's about time the places that get consistent NBL support – Adelaide and North Queensland – were rewarded with a Boomers game.

That Stats Program is FIBA Live Stats, go to the website (www.fibaorganizer.com), you can download it yourself (for free!).

It has been used at ABL level for the past 2 years, as well in WNBL & NWBL (Wheelchair) and all National Juniors.

Haven't heard whether it is going to be used by NBL this season, or whether they're going to stick with Cybersports.

Pretty sure NBL was with FIBA last year.

When you look at the team, there's not alot to promote! Sure, Jawai has spent some time with the NBA but there's no big names that would be recognized sportsmen in the general Aussie sporting community. It actually looked as though they were both Junior sides with the exception of Penney. We made Mika Vukona look like an all-star early. Surely Oscar should know by now he can't shoot! Alot of players looked out of their depths, and that's against NZ. Both Baynes and Jawai imposed themselves and Ingles showed again that he's a better player than Newley. FTA promotion is the only way you can get more than just the basketball community to again notice basketball.

Now that's the problem isn't though sassy? The fact that a lot of these players are unkown to many comes down to the lack of publicity in the first place. All of the players on the team with the exception of Baynes (NCAA), Ogilvy (NCAA) and Dellavedova (AIS) play at NBL level already. The fact is the players are not promoted and they get little exposure. Jawai is known by more people as he got drafted to the NBA, but Ingles missed out. AJ will get the same exposure next year when he gets drafted.
However it is up the BA to now draft a media strategy in not just promoting the NBL, but promoting the personalities that play in it, ala Andrew Gaze.

I agree that many people travel further from other places for the 36ers etc, i guess people will travel from a while away if they're passionate enough. I think we all aggree however that not enough publicity was done, whether this was purely financial or not, I don;t know.

In the grand scheme of things, it costs $100 to make a simple flyer and make a few hundred copies and about $50 on drinks to give to a few people who can walk around for the day posting the flyers around Sydney.

I'd say the problem is more of no one getting their arse into gear to advertise in the first place. It would have been better too to get a couple of the lads on the radio to do a plug; perhaps even arrange to do a 30 second radio commmerical a few times on the day in question (its cheaper than a TV ad and is guaranteed to be heard by enough people.

There are probably about a dozen or so low budget options organizers could have taken to advertise the game, but instead chose not too. There's nothing more to it than that.

In the grand scheme of things, it costs $100 to make a simple flyer and make a few hundred copies and about $50 on drinks to give to a few people who can walk around for the day posting the flyers around Sydney.

I'd say the problem is more of no one getting their arse into gear to advertise in the first place. It would have been better too to get a couple of the lads on the radio to do a plug; perhaps even arrange to do a 30 second radio commmerical a few times on the day in question (its cheaper than a TV ad and is guaranteed to be heard by enough people.

There are probably about a dozen or so low budget options organizers could have taken to advertise the game, but instead chose not too. There's nothing more to it than that.

Do Jawai, Newley and Ingles get media training? Seems that BA try to push Jawai's NBA link at every opportunity, but is there a personality there that they can get out in the media as happens with cricket and AFL?

Actually, it's a bit sad to admit, but I would've completely missed that game if Nino hadn't called me five minutes before it started. Had seen some messages about it on Twitter, but didn't make the link that it was happening on Sunday night.

You are spot on LC - a huge push needs to be made to push the personalities in the Boomers and NBL. CJ Bruton has been largely wasted as a tlaent in this regard, as has James Harvey.

For I don't have Fox myself but I think the game had a pretty good tv audience. I'd be curious to know if there is any info on that?
We get 5000 to sixers games and only 2200 to Boomers v Iran here last year ?

Cornesy and Rowie mentioned briefly that they'd watched it... I'd guess Sunday nite plenty would have.