Shorter game is easier to fit into a TV broadcast schedule.

Chuck wanted our music man to stop playing music during the games in Darwin because "It's not what FIBA allows".

- 48 mintes reduced to 40 minutes
- National anthem done half way through warm ups before half the fans are even at their seats
- Players left standing ready to play waiting for the thumbs up from Fox before play commences
- etc etc
So much about basketball appears to revolves around 'what fits for TV', yet there is no free to air and the coverage that Fox provides is minimal.

Why doesn't basketball get the respect it deserves?

Hate the 40min games. Hate em!

Will tix prices come down 15%?

Why not?

40 min games will be sweet for CJ's knees, wots good for CJ's knees is good for the Breakers. NZ getting sweet coverage on TV this season

I prefer the NBA style of broadcasting on ABC & TNT, where the moment the game is ready to go, Tip-off happens regardless of whether the opening speeches from the commentators are done or not.

Even AFL runs their games that way; or better yet, they save the yapping for the pre-game show and just let the game happen.

I don't understand why Foxtel coverage needs to seem so polished in its presentation when they can just cut back and forth during timeouts and breaks, to do 30 second "on-camera" commentary and the rest while the game runs.

Marty, AFL games are not run that way. They are highly coordinated all around the timings of the television stations. After a goal, the next bounce doesn't occur until the TV station has indicated that it is back live.

actually the AFL is totally TV run, games times finals times and the umpire cannot bounce the ball after a goal until the red light comes on to tell them the commercial is finished. Cant complain about TV it keeps sports going with the money they throw in

Agree about the fact the AFL is run according to TV schedules. The umpires have to wait until a red light is shown before they can initiate play again after a goal is scored.
As for the NBL, whilst I would prefer the 48min schedule, I am leaving an open mind to see how it goes.

tv can accomodate 48 minute no problem so not a tv issue

It's not about being on TV now but doing everything possible to encourage it to happen. Shame that the networks just aren't interested.

Nicky, existing player contracts haven't dropped 15%. Still have to hire them for the full period and trainings don't change, etc.

48 min games can sometimes go over 2 hours, 40 minute games rarely do. that's the crux of it from the TV stations perspective and cause they pump in the funds, you gotta keep them happy.

different story in the NBA where longer is better as they take it as getting more commercials in as opposed to other programming. take the superbowl for example, that goes for about half a day...

Well they wanted to come in line FIBA who play 40 minutes...

there,, nothing to do with TV at all..they have promised 15% more action with the reduced 15% time so hence no reduction in tickets..:)

40 minute games are just as entertaining as 48 minute games. Twenty/20 is just as entertaining as 50 over games etc

I was thinking about people getting to the game,getting a park,ticket,seat - 40mins would be a let down. But it was a very good game on Sunday and I didn't notice the difference.

tv can accomodate 48 minute no problem so not a tv issue

I'd be happy to not hear the national anthem ever again at a domestic sporting event. It's such a waste of time.

For those that think that they should be paying 15% less...go and f*** yourself. The league needs all sorts of support right now and you complaining about 8 friggen minutes less is utterly selfish. Stay home and watch the replay in slo-mo if those 8 minutes is so important.

Whether some people prefer 48 minutes games or not is irrelevant. The choice is basically between 40 minutes and nothing, not 40 minutes and 48 minutes.

The 40 minute games would offer FTA TV a better commercial opportunity than 48 minutes, probably allowing for an additional 12-15 minutes of advertising in a 2 hour broadcast.

And let's not talk about the NBA. Have you actually sat through one of their live broadcasts? They creep over 3 hours! I love basketball but Jesus, my attention span for it isn't 3 hours long.

TC2, I heard something about someone in at BA thinking that the anthem should be reserved for internationals so you might get your wish.

I'd be happy to hear 300 violin orchetstra as we were coming into the Dome. (That's from season teaser-national anthem is worn out)

Count me as another vote against playing the national anthem before every game. I appreciate my country as much as anyone, but I don't see the need to play the national anthem at a basketball game - especially when everyone is expected to face a dingy flag tacked to the wall at one end of the stadium. Not much grandeur there I'm afraid! If we must do the anthem I think the flag needs to hang somewhere prominent, like from the central scoreboard above the court.

I would have preferred to stick with 48 mins. Its not too long to hold my attention and gives a team that gets in a hole less time to adjust and come back during a game. It will completely change stats and records in future as well. Some records (ie games played) will be more easily broken and others may now stand forever (some of Gaze's 30 odd ppg avgs).

With less court time available, rotations will shorten and there won't be as many chances for role players and rookies to unexpectedly shine or turn a game. Conversely, stars will probably have an even bigger impact, because they will be able to play most of the game and will be less affected by fatigue. This could improve the quality of the action, but I also wonder if it will increase the predictability of the outcome?

In the end, I can understand the reasons for the change though and I'm still going to come and watch basketball, so I guess I'll just get used to it.

In d1 college major games are stopped every 4 minutes for a tv time out. Now that's being run by the tv networks. So every half there are 4 tv timeouts then each team gets 2 full and 2 30 sec timeouts per half. We don't have it that bad here as of yet. Maybe soon though

Ouch Balla, that would be painful! I could cop one in each half of an NBL game if there had not been any regular timeouts called, but any more than that would just be tedious.

Bean, at 36ers games, doesn't the flag drop down from the central cube? (I am often late to games, so they might've stopped doing that at some point.)

We used to have tv timeouts at the 5:59 mark of the first quarter, not sure about the remaining quarters.

National Anthem should be reserved for Finals think it adds to the overaly build up of the important games.
And for sure for internationals.

TV timeouts suck!

During last NBL Season - Lightning games seemed too short. But not having seen a 48min game for 6 months and starved of some NBL action, Sunday was all good.

National Anthem should just be for Internationals.

Agree about Nastional anthem - save it for finals, if not the finals series.

a look at some potential positives of a 40 min game.

*teams playing more up tempo games ie pressing defences etc

*stars having more court time and influence on results

*more time to get drinks/merchandise,hopefully you wont have to get out of your seat with 30 sec to go just so you can get back before the start of next qtr.

*maybe a bit more entertainment at halftime involving opposing mascots etc. aimed more at kids,rather then having dancing girls(not that i mind dancing girls)which is still seen as americanised crap.

*get rid of the anthem,except for international games.

skull, are they increasing quarter and half time breaks? Otherwise, I'm not understanding where you are coming from.

TC2 - i am 'presuming' they would try to give something back to the punter.
not sure,but they should increase half time at least.

i dont know about anyone else,but i always feel rushed when i go to nbl games in cairns,maybe it is just cairns....maybe its just me.....

if you can get the bums on the seats,you need time to extract money out of them.

i see 5000 punters,my first thought is,now how do i get maximum $$ out of them ??

Cannot believe every one is saying no anthem.

Wow.

no change to quarter time and halftime breaks

Why would you want to hear the anthem? It's pointless.

skull, the half time break is the least favourite of attending an NBL game to me. It just seems to drawn out - maybe I am just really impatient?

no change to quarter time or halftime breaks.

Does anyone know if there is a change to the quartertime or halftime breaks?

didnt mean to post it twice it didnt appear the first time sorry

"Cannot believe every one is saying no anthem.

Wow."

Alot of other teams and other codes don't bother with the anthem.

Tigers only did it for Fox games and finals.


A longer half time break might see more people enjoy some snacks etc, but would also be too drawn out for those remaining in their seats.

Yeah no anthem for me. The singers are always shocking.

I don't think shorter games will have any bearing on style of play. Teams will still play to their strengths. For example, you press when the other team has poor ball handlers, not because the quarter is shorter.

Isaac i might have more of an idea than you know -

thedoctor - so when the bullets won the championship that year,every team in the league must have had poor ball handlers!!

pressing defence is a weapon used for slowing down momentum,pushing teams out of their offence,lowering shot percentages,forcing bad passes etc
a team might have good ball handlers but a weak under pressure 3,4 or 5 guy who is known to pass badly under pressure.

10 minutes and 5 fouls is a lot different then 12 minutes and 6 fouls.

Maybe we just want to ensure all of our players, coaches and officials are playing the international game.

anon- agree there should be minimum standards set for game night entertainment.
was on the gold coast recently and was really impressed with the above court scoreboard.
it was a crap game but was entertained mostly by the scoreboard(when a certain player scored his image and stats came up on the screen) and advertising etc that was flashing up.

no doubt an expensive addition but a great marketing tool for selling advertising for future sponsors.

also a point of difference in the boring same same advertising world.

the cost of paying say, a 12 piece band with horn sections,15 dancing girls,people to sing anthems etc,must add up over a season also.

the league needs to start making a plan for the future.

Anon, assuming the entertainment value has been reduced is not correct.

As for game night entertainment, the focus in the current NBL economy should be on getting as many kids as possible at the games involved in the entertainment in some way.

That is more likely to get them to nag their parents to take them back again than some kind of glitzy entertainment.

Anon - I look forward to those time outs, with the chics dancing around. One of my favourite parts of the game. I feel ripped off when there aren't enough timeouts!

Anon, so would you rather we go to 15 minute quarters and 60 minute games? More entertainment for fans!

Yes, anon, it's a very naiive view to think that a 40 minute game wont be as entertaining as a 48 minute game.

It is the spectacle and the contest that counts, not how long it goes for. Twenty20 cricket is more popular than one day cricket.

I dont know about everyone else but i go to watch basketball. NOT halftime entertainment, cheerleaders, some dude breakdancing in the middle of the floor. The game is the entertainment.

Offcourt and break entertainment costs money and is a distraction IMO. What do AFL teams do at h/t? They have kids running around on the field. Low-fuss, same each time. Lets them concentrate on the games themselves.

I'd prefer we stuck to 48 minute games, but 40 minutes is happening so give it a chance or skip it. If you can argue we're losing value for money, how is adding MORE game time not adding value for money?

Within a year or so, people will have forgotten this and have other things to discuss.

I want less timeouts. The NBA is a poain inthe backside late in the 4th quarter of a tight game. They call timeouts every second play and the last 3 minutes goes for 30. Terrible to watch

• Anon, 20/20 has changed the way it is played because it is shorter and therefore more intense. That is what happens with 40 minute games of basketball. But I think it is you who has missed the point. A sporting contest - or most entertainment for that matter - isn't a per minute value for money product. It is an experience.

If the makers of a movie decided to add in an extra two minutes of film that they had previously cut, that doesn’t necessarily make it a better film, because the previous version will have told the whole story.

Likewise, the whole story of the basketball game – all four quarters – will be told in a 40 minute game just as in a 48 minute game. There will still be lead changes, runs etc as the game makes its way through four quarters towards a conclusion.

Get on the www.fibatv.com and watch the Turkey v Greece quarter final (or any other close game) and tell me whether that would have been made a better game to watch by adding 2 minutes to watch quarter.

i've been very patient and tried to stay out of this thread. I can't anymore.

anon, paul is right (isaac is sorta right - he must be a little bit of a tool if he thinks 48 minute games are better than 40 :-) ) but....

think of it this way, when you see a 96 minute movie that you enjoy and then a 114 minute movies you thought was crap do you really really really sit there and say to yourself and say "shit, at least i got more value for money for my 114 minute movie.... i got...

more time to eat my popcorn,
more time to drink my supersize coke
more time to understand the plot

the 40 minute game is reducing 8 minutes of what was generally ho-hum type ball (much like overs 20-35 in one day cricket) and one time out per team - thats it.... you can still have all your other shit if the clubs can afford to do it.

but, if you think the 40 minute format will not change the game style then you either do not understand basketball or you have never seen good international league play. Give it a chance. I've seen shit loads of 40 minute ball, i love it - as paul said, it is more intense, results in more close games, etc etc. The NBA is crap.... amazing talent but crap ball - thats probably why they are now the ONLY league in the world running the 48 minute format.

And this on NBL.com today:

"The players are on notice - efficiency is the key."

Link: http://linky.com.au/rndaz

Read the article and then post what you think...