I went to a game while I was in Perth before xmas when you played Wollongong. Unbelievable stadium and the atmosphere was electric. Before the game the crowd walking to the stadium was like everyone going to a football game and everyone wearing red looks fantastic. Perth are the benchmark of the competition with the way they promote themselves. One thing I noticed while I was over there is the Wildcats are always mentioned on the TV news, paper and radio. This is something that rarely happens for Melbourne Tigers. The WA media covered all of their sporting teams and look after their own where as in Melbourne it is only focused on football and cricket and it is lucky for other sports to get a mention.

if every NBL team is eventually like this, it would be a awesome league

There was also an article in the paper on the weekend about the Wildcats wanting to renegotiate their contract with the Perth Arena next season to include the possibility of opening the roof during games.

Very, very impressive.

Perth def need a pat on the back.

sting what - i don't necessarily think that wildcats get a lot of media, and i think that the media here is useless.

although we get an article in the sports section before every game (usually at the very back of the sport section) we are rarely mentioned in the news. most of the time if we are mentioned, it's a short 30 second commentary saying how we won or lost and they give the score. it would be nice over the summer to hear some more about nbl and what's been happening, then watching stuff about the Fremantle dockers move to Cockburn.. but then i suppose, at least we get a bit of coverage compared to other teams!

last nights game was amazing, hopefully Friday nights game gets a high number of attendance too!

catsfan-When I was in Perth for the brief period (3 weeks) I saw numerous times Perth Wildcats on the news. Interviews with Dunnigan etc (mind you it was his first game), newspaper articles, radio and signage around the city.

In Victoria, you don't see anything on TV promoting a Melbourne Tigers game. Rarely on the news unless something out of the ordinary happens (Johnny Flynn signing did make some headlines, dried up since) and no one hears about it on the main radio stations. They do get an article post game but nothing pre game to make the general public aware there is a game on that night etc.

I think the media in general have woken up to the Wildcats resurgence, however i agree with catsfan in that there still isn't that much (considering the crowds we are getting), i think more coverage is deserved to match the attendances.

The way I see it, and sting what - you may have only been noticing channel 10 news - im not sure - but only Channel 10 give any decent consistent coverage.

Channel 9 are doing a pretty good job and have Damien Martin in the studio once a week for an interview which is great, but Channel 7 are useless. They have the shortest sports segment of all the stations, and dedicate too much of that segment to AFL (boring in the offseason), cricket and tennis.

The NBL coverage might be considered great compared to other markets with their NBL teams, but I still think the Wildcats could get a lot more coverage considering they're miles ahead of every other NBL team, and they can hold their own in Perth against say the Glory and Scorchers etc...

Having sad that, yes I agree that there is a fantastic amount of signage around the city and in train stations etc... The radio stations are also behind them which is great.

With the signage, I think a lot of it is to coincide with the Wildcats "return to the city" campaign, and the need to sell a lot of tickets. This wasnt needed when they were playing at Challenge due to the location and that every game was nearly sold out.

Bigger arena, means more marketing is needed.

With great respect (and I mean that), the Perth media has less to cover. Two x AFL teams, 1 x A-league, 1 x Big Bash/cricket, 1 x Super Series, 1 x netball and 1 x NBL and WNBL. The parochialism angle is easier to take - and there is less sports news than on the eastern seaboard. Believe it or not but the time difference helps with this as well. You cannot just take as many eastern seaboard stories on delay as say Adelaide does and get away with it.

Adelaide get more media coverage than the big market teams as well. They still have, as I understand, a FT basketball reporter and they certainly get TV news coverage.

Melbourne has 10 AFL teams, Storm, Rebels, 2 x Big Bash, 2 x A-league, 1 x netbal1 and 1 x NBL and 3 x WNBL. Add to that the busiest major sports event calendar of any major city in the world.

The sports director/editor has choices to make, and they are much harder in Melbourne than in Perth or Adelaide. Fact is the Herald Sun is built on AFL coverage.

No question booming crowds are helping the quest for media in Perth as well, along with fascination, and disappointment, in the new venue.

Very much agree with that. Same problem goes for Sydney - and its possibly worse, as the sports culture in Sydney is no where near that of Melbourne.

Perth - despite being the 4th largest city (or 3rd biggest NBL market, not that that matters), is considered a small market even for Australian standards.

I get the feeling that the Wildcats still need to prove themselves over a long period of time with sustained interest and crowds before the heavyweights like Channel 7 decide to take notice of them.

Hopefully Perth don't take their foot off the pedal. If there is significant new revenue from extra ticket sales, keep marketing the team and maintain the public visibility.

Appreciate that Anon, and the clarification!

It's been said on here before, but for the NBL to get some credibility media-wise it needs Melbourne and Sydney in particular consistently getting to that 6000-7000 mark with occasional 9-10K turnouts.

If execs are looking around and seeing big crowds in Perth, Adelaide, Auckland and particularly the big two cities they start to think this is a serious product.

As it is Perth's awesome success kind of highlights that 5000 is seen as a good NBL crowd in Melbourne, as is 6000 in Sydney, which is much better than a few years ago but still chicken feed in the broader scheme.

"There remains an abundance of people happy to pass themselves off as basketball writers."

LOL, Gold


Perth, are the benchmark in the NBL and each club would be well advised to benchmark against what they are doing. It's the little things they do that matter. "POST. TAG. SHARE. TWEET." It's on every thing they do. They have woken up to social media and I suspect they have a social media marketing assistant.

There's another thread identifying some issues with the Sixers and perhaps one of the big holes is the marketing/promotion/advertising of the Sixers. In years gone past there was a really good marketing girl who did some good stuff (she's at MMM now) and another who is working for a FMCG company. I know $ are probably tight at the club, but there would be quite a few media/PR/marketing students who would loyal supporters of the club who could tie some work in for the club for assignments, research or just experience. That would be the ultra-low cost option. There would be several other options that would not cost a great deal. There are a couple of corporate boxes vacant (@ $28K/yr) that could be offered for payment in lieu. I know when the furniture was re-done in 2008 (?) the company did that (RIP PB) for a reduced rate plus some complimentary tickets and acknowledgement as a sponsor.

Success breeds success and that is why the Wildcats have boomed of late and left others in their wake. They should be applauded for their on court success as well as their off court prowess and business acumen.

Perth are not supported by a mining billionaire who has a bottomless pit of money and do not have spare cash to splash around. They run a very sound business model and generally post a profit.

That said they do have a supportive owner, who can make up any loss the club makes. Much like any other NBL club.

Dunno what is was like the the baskteball, but a sold out Hopman Cup for Tomic and Djokovic was something.
Wish them all the best of luck cos that arena is something. Now to see if there is 12000 regular attendees out there in Perth. Should be