*cricket
sorry ahah

As long as sports reporting is dominated by a "boys' club" who played football and who are always hob-nobbing with the football power-brokers, basketball doesn't stand much of a chance.

but there has to be a decent fan base for NBL, at least enough for it to be on the news

This is simple really IMO...

Who controls the media and what sports so they like?

Packer = Cricket, football, rugby
Murdoch = Rugby, foobtall, soccer

Get the idea.....

Find a multi national billionair who runs a media network and likes hoops, problem solved!

Simplistic view Hoopie. Chicken or egg, the "boys club" are there because their sports demanded attention in the first place.

@Bear You know what billionaires like more than the sports you mentioned?
Money.
That's why they're billionaires.

If they thought basketball would get them ratings and make them money they'd have it on their networks 24 hours a day!

^ yes, but if they put basketball in the media more, it would make more money.

Yeah, I get that...

So, how much money does Netball bring in? More coverage than basketball on free to air I think, but can't see it as a major money maker in the scheme of things.

I take your point though, yet when cricket was going down hill faster than the Greek economy it was packer's passion for the sport that saved it and made it into a big money maker again.

My point is more about the passion for a sport, of course they want to make money, so the product has to have something attractive, but if they (the ones who matter) have little interest, then the end result is less media!

^ yes, but if they put basketball in the media more, it would make more money.

I think youre spot on Bear, but your point has been misunderstood.

For the nbl to receive more media attention it needs to be considered a serious sport. I think too much emphasis has been placed on making the game an entertaining night out and keeping the audience happy - particularly kids. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I think people attending games are kept well entertained and go home happy, regardless of the game itself.

But for the mainstream media to give it the air time it needs, the sport needs to grow up and take itself more seriously. It also needs to be as much a part of the Australian culture as football is. And right now, with only 8 teams spread out over the country, the culture isn't there - yet.

Kochie is a part owner of the Kings and even he can't get the Kings on Sunrise more often. I'm sick of the lack of media coverage as well, but this has been a battle the nbl has had for over a decade now.

There's also too much of an agenda happening within the media. For example, Channel 7 will protect it's AFL contract by covering anything AFL related over any other sport. An NBL grand final in Perth still won't make Channel 7 (Perth) budge from talking about the West Coast Eagles having a pre season hit out - or any trivial story. But Channel 10 will cover the NBL well because it has an investment and an interest in the Wildcats.

On a national level, Channel 9 will prioritize NRL, Fox will protect the A-League and SBS has a deep rooted investment in soccer. Basketball just doesn't stand a chance. And that pisses me off. The news should be unbiased and reported on what's important at the time, Regardless of the sport - not a protection of it's own interests. To me, that's not news.

is there any issue around cross-channel news sharing?

in other words, if Ch 7 wants to show basketball and ch 10 has the rights, does ch 7 need to pay mega-bucks to get the footage?

I'm not sure about game highlights hoopie,, but there is nothing stopping all media into press conferences and interviews. You can notice how popular a sport is by the number of microphones surrounding a player or coach for any sport.

In the NBL, there is usually only 1 or 2 microphones - which means thats all the media there for that interview.

If it's an AFL or NRL interview, you can guarantee up to 10 microphones will be there. It's up to the media and if they want to show an interview, they will need to be there themselves to cover it.

If the rumours are to be believed, this will become an even bigger problem next year. Lots of talk around from some well-connected people that Channel 10 (with their new CEO) are about to dump NBL coverage altogether. Contract or no, the word is they want to cut bait and run because they just don't believe in the sport on TV. Not surprising given the piss poor ratings.

God help the league if that happens. They'll have no recourse other than to crawl back to Fox, cap in hand, and beg them to show games next season. the other commercial FTA networks won't want a bar of what they see as a bad TV product - and forget about ABC or SBS.

Television networks are not too keen on a sport where half the teams are outside of the Australian capitals - Breakers, Taipans, Crocs, Hawks. That won't change in a hurry.

Good thing NBL.TV is around then, Hopscotch 22

You're kidding, right? You think NBL.TV will be enough to sustain the league from a corporate perspective? Ah, okay, sure. lol.

Why does the NBL have to "crawl" back to Foxtel if 10 dump the coverage? Fox should have no issue taking the NBL back considering how they treated the league in its final years on Fox.

Wasn't it Fox that decided to only show 1 game a week in the final year - and that game being on a Wednesday only and would usually be a Kings home game, which killed their attendances?

Didn't Fox also wait till week 6 or something before they even showed any NBL? Fox treated the NBL like crap in the last year, by mostly showing the Kings once a week on Wednesdays. I don't blame the NBL at the time for cutting Fox off and going to One when the offer was presented to them.

Any other sports league would have done the same thing with terrible coverage like that.

I didn't misunderstand Bear's point. I just think the issue is more nuanced than his first post outlined.

The more we post the less likely it seems that the set of circumstances needed for this to take place are realistic (owner who is passionate for sport AND decent amount of exposure in all media AND popularity in capital cities)

It almost requires a 'Perfect Storm' scenario for it to work. Well, the opposite of a perfect storm. A Perfect Calm?

My white knight theory is wishful thinking, sure, so what about this idea...

We have got some very talented juniors coming through at the moment, some in College and around the traps and others about to embark on that road.

With some great junior results recently on a national stage, maybe we can get some international exposure at Olympic level or even the NBA?

With that kind of exposure the TV has to promote the game, doesn't it...?

If basketball in this country is going to get some kick start in the media it may have to come from our local talent being reconised on an international level. Having said that, how much interest did it generate when Bogut was tipped to come play in the NBL, during the last NBA strike??

Remember that.....

KK launched NBL.TV (owned by NBL) as a direct revenue stream for the league and an attractive proposition to sponsors.

This removes them the interests of the commercial networks who have no stake in showing highlights.

Ten's coverage of mainstream sports limits its ability bar couple of clips.

Also a 2-3 of years ago AAP stopped sending journos to most games. As such you get a few lines the next day probably gleaned from a phone call.