I think there exists an enormous amount of Melbournians who are staunch "anti tigers", so you have a built-in fan base in that regard.

I'm not as optimistic about a Brisbane team right now, to tell you the truth.

The second melb bid will be based on the Anti-Tigers community feel in Melbourne basketball heartland from Eltham to Dandenong.

Hence if they base the new team at the new state centre it is in the middle of that heartland.

I think the key is more the Corporates thou as it is along way from the corporate hub (CBD) for those type of supporters to travel and as with all sports they are all important!

What is the capacity of the new state center?

State Basketball Centre will increase its size to about 3500 I think.

The Melbourne teams you mentioned all paid huge amounts of money to hire stadiums such as Hisense and Rod Laver, the State Basketball Centre would be cheap as chips to play in and has a good capacity.

The location is also the biggest assest it has. In Melbourne's basketball heartland where basketball has a huge following. A 2nd Melb team seems like a no brainer to me now

Surely Melbourne can support two teams. It supported 4 at one stage plus Geelong were in the league then.

I hope we can get a Brisbane Team up. not sure if things will be ready or good enough for next season, unless some things change quickly

Tiger Watchers comments are spot on.

You cannot support an NBL franchise with 3000 seats being full every week.

You have to bring the corporate organisations, and they need to be the ones that need to avail themselves of great corporate entertainment opportunities.

There is no evidence that Knox provides that opportunity, not matter how nice a stadium it is.

It might be in basketballs heartland, but it is otherwise off the beaten track, a long way from the City and bitch of a place to get to on a Friday night, and one I don't want to travel to on a Saturday.

Plus, the venue experience is just not that good. One function room, no suites, difficult entry and exit etc.

Interview link

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-21/keneally-on-the-state-of-basketball-in-australia/4273166?section=sport

I would imagine the team will play some games at Hisense and some at Knox. That is a good set up for an NBL club.

Anon #380547, do us a favour and don't support the 36ers :P

An expanded league would be great, but after the weekend at Dandenong I am becoming concerned about the future of the NBL. I went to the pre season games on both friday and saturday and was alarmed at the lack of support for the event.

It only cost $2.50 to get in and all the sides were there, but there were more supporters at some of the recent VJBL finals than at the NBL & WNBL games. I think the event was a worthy one but very poorly promoted.

I was coaching a domestic junior game at the venue on saturday afternoon and encouraged my kids to watch the Tigers play after our game. They had a quick look but decided they were not interested and went home. There was no connection between the kids and the big names playing.

There was no promotions going on at the stadium apart from a half hearted push for Tigers membership. No posters, no caps, no give-aways.

At least a few years ago when the Dragons started they had a huge presence around the local stadiums of Melbourne before the season kicked off. These days the vast majority of the thousands of kids playing in Melbourne could not even name a Tigers player.

I know I have wandered a bit off topic but I am seriously concerned about the future of the League.

I went on Thursday night and I was impressed by the promotion of the NBL live TV. They had a few people handing out flyers for it and the court announcers pumped it up a fair bit.


In terms of getting the corporate dollar to Knox I feel that it is not really a big problem. When you look at NBL teams I doubt even most NBL teams could tell you the main sponsor of every NBL team in the league. There is more than enough sponsorship available to offer what an NBL team would want.

As most basketball fans live within 15kms of the stadium it is not a problem to get to for the majority of people. Going into the city to watch the Tigers play is an absolute bitch though with traffic.

The State Basketball Centre does need some work, especially with the car park and lighting at night is very poor. This is very easily fixed and it looks like it is in the works anyway.

The NBL didnt bother promoting the pre-season tourny. That money and effort is best spent on promoting the real stuff, and realistically pre-season games with players missing and coaches experimenting arent that good an ad for the league.

Remembering that the State Centre isn't finished yet, once phase 2 is completed this stadium will be outstanding. Much easier to get to than Hisense.

If there is a lack of potential corporate support in Melbourne's outer east that could be a problem, but surely there are some major industries based out there that would be interested?

In the end, whilst professional basketball teams need corporate support, is there any real point (or likely longevity) to their existence if they don't have a passionate fanbase?

In a city as big and wealthy as Melbourne, I would have thought its more important to base a team in a location its potential fanbase can attend and then to cultivate a relationship with prominent local business people?

Wow. I was told it would be the most impressive Australian sports club sponsorship ever, and if what youre suggesting is true that would be the case!

When the Margaret Court arena upgrade is complete, surely the Tigers and 2nd Melbourne team should both play most of their games there, ala the Tigers-Magic days of 1992-2000 when they shared Rod Laver arena. Assuming, perhaps far too optimistically, that Melbourne Park offer rent at a reasonable price. That will satisfy corporates and then the 2nd Melbourne team can play a few games at Knox to further establish their Eastern suburbs identity.

2nd Melb team - yes. There is enough anti-tigers hate out there to easily support a 2nd team. And with them playing a 3500 seat venue which I can only expect will be cheap by the sounds of it, they should be able to remain viable for some time and allow them to grow.

2nd Brisbane team - not so sure. I need more convincing that basketball in SE Queensland has the support. I'm still annoyed at the Brisbane people where only 4000 attended the Boomers Olympic qualifier (in a 12,000 BEC) during a time where they needed to show support for a Brisbane team. It was the only big game of basketball in years in Brisbane and the support was disappointing. Need more convincing for me. Then to follow it up with only 2000 or so attending Blaze games at the Convention Centre. Brisbane still has a long way to go in my opinion.

I'd be happy to see a Wellington team from NZ join. I think they're more advanced than Brisbane are right now for support and eagerness for a team.

Agree with Wildcat fan, give the nod to second Melbourne team or Wellington before Brisbane.

The wider Brisbane public just doesn't care about basketball.

Also, interesting to see Paul was the only one who bit at that troll's puerile Microsoft bait.

To use the state centre for NBL they had better fix the access issue.

At recent VJBL finals getting out of the car park through one exit back onto High St was a killer - that will put people off big time for NBL.

Sorry Mick, but last year Boti Nagy said one of the Melbourne bids had a major sponsor that would "knock the leagues' sock off" or words to that effect. At the same time others in Melbourne mentioned the bid had financial support from the USA.

So from that I guess I am ripe for a troll baiting if that is the case!!

Im not judging you either way. I would be happy to give cred but you dont have any sort of name!!

It seems very unlikely that such a big international company would be involved. At the same time, it does kind of fit with what Boti reported, what has been said about overseas investment, and the fact this latest Melbourne bid is very well advanced with finer details being worked out.

If what you say about it being a complete social investment is on the mark then that is truly exciting and a fantastic way to imbed basketball in the culture.

If youre speaking crap, well no harm is done and we will find out the reality of the bid fairly soon anyway. All we can do is wait and hope this time the bid actually becomes a reality.

120 million? Must be an awful lot "in kind".....