NO

With the amount of associations they have signed up as partners I think they are feeling pretty good about themselves.

Kingston can you fill me in what this association partnership is all about

No

The Tigers linked up with quite a few local associations this year and I think the name change to United was designed to get in the door with more associations before they have competition from a second Melbourne team.

Melbourne fans need to ask themselves is it better to have a team with any name eg United or no team at all?

If you want to have a team in the NBL at all, you need to support United or they to will become extinct and if no one supports United why is anyone going to put together a 2nd team in a city that doesnt support the existing team??

Whether you like the name or not, whether you were a Tigers, Dragons, Magic, Giants, Titans, etc supporter i encourage you to get to as many games as you can, they have a awesome roster so you should enjoy the game even if you hate the name, etc. Its the only way any Melbourne team/even the NBL will survive and flourish.

I understand why Tigers fans are angry, i would be annoyed if the 36ers did the same thing, but at the end of the day id still go to games and support the best i can because even a poorly rebranded team is better than no team or NBL at all.

Especially given you guys have a MVP level import with 4 Boomers, its a really good roster, should be entertaining to watch a good mix of shooters, athleticism, versatile players so if your a basketball fan and can get past all the other crap you should enjoy watching this team play and at this early stage id have them fighting Perth for the Title, it will be tough for the 36ers (and most other teams) to put together a roster this good, especially if DJ leaves.

Big tigers fan and won't be exactly supporting them (Might jump on the 36er's)but at least we still got a team in Melb.

Any less teams and we don't have a comp so hope they thirve which will encourage investors for a 2nd team...hopefully

Well said Jonno. That's the attitude that is needed. Was going to say something similar. For all everybody knows, the Tigers might have been on their last legs and the owners (as wealthy as they are) might not have stuck around in the long run.

This might be their way of really trying to revive basketball in Melbourne, not just keep plodding along and staying above water.

The second Melbourne group is hardly inspiring.

the re-branding was terrible and I still don't like it but now think it was the right thing to do...1 step backwards to take 2 steps forward !!

the old Tigers people I talk to (or listen to)these days are stuck in the past & spinning their wheels in the mud.....seems like there was no other way but to break away.

At least you guys in Melbourne have a team to support.
Brisbane haven't had a team since the Bullets went belly up in 2008.

You Tigers fans not jumping on the United bandwagon are more than welcome to barrack for the Sixers when they play in Melbourne. If you ask nicely we might even be able to rustle up some Sixers polos to send over.

The problem is i doubt the owners have made a cent from the Tigers, infact id be willing to bet they have poored in hundreds of thousands of there money to keep the team going.

Yes they may be mega rich, but they dont have to spend a single cent on the NBL if they dont wish to.

Id say the Tigers would have folded if they didnt make this move to me it was like, 'im sick of losing money under the Tigers model, we just cant get enough support , it doesnt work, lets try something to get more fans engaged to see if we can survive' type of move.

Im not saying they got it right. But these owners are not greedy they have invested far more $$$, time and effort than 99% of fans ever will. If the tigers fan base are as big and strong as people think and supported the club properly moves like this wouldnt have to happen.

I think they stuffed up the re-brand too, but i also think a team under any branding is better than no team, which i think was the alternative in the not too distant future. Its not like people are lining up to poor $$ into NBL clubs, they are not NBA clubs that go up in value and are not in leagues that are backed by huge $$$ from tv.

The things the owners have done right are
1. kept the team alive
2. assembled a championship callibre roster

There are obviously others, but they are 2 key things fans need to appreciate.

My advice to all NBL supporters in Melbourne, Tigers, Dragons, Titans, Giants, Magic, even if you dont like the re-brand, get to as many games as possible, wear your teams colours, pack the place out with Tigers jerseys, refer to the team as the Tigers, even cheer for the other team if you want, but buy a ticket and get along and watch the awesome team they have put together. Its the only way the team and the NBL survives, if you dont there will likely be no Melbourne team and possibly no fully pro basketball league in the country.

If enough of you do that, then another investor might go wow there are really thousands and thousands of Tigers (or what ever team) supporters, lets invest in the NBL and bring them back as the 2nd team. If no one shows up to United games, potential investors are going to be like there is no market for a 2nd NBL team in Melbourne, people just dont buy tickets. That to me is the only way the Tigers have any chance of returning or any 2nd NBL team in Melbourne of existing.

So Tigers fans, buy a ticket, go to the games, deck yourself out in Tigers gear, cheer and chant the Tigers name, even cheer the opposition team if you want, and enjoy watching what really is a awesome roster play the game that we all love at a high and entertaining level.

Anonymous it is a shame you didn't add a name so people can refer to your post.

I will simply address this to "the most recent Anonymous"

You point to the 'what if' scenario of Queensland teams being rolled into one.. well that situation is not what is happening here.. there was only ONE Melbourne team currently playing and for the moment their remains only one. No one has lost anything in number of teams that wasn't lost many years ago now.

You call the decision to change names a "Greedy business decision" and "the team wasn't going to fold".. Yes, true.. but the team wasn't exactly thriving now was it? Its image.. whilst has history is one that is now tired, old.. and unappealing to the masses.. In the end this is a BUSINESS decision, should the owners (albeit millionaire owners) keep pumping their money into what is essentially a business enterprise that is not actually bringing them any real returns all because of some allegiance to a NAME of all things? Why shouldn't they try to appeal to other demographics? The 'Tigers' brand.. whilst recognisable was a relatively small niche market, a niche market that indeed would be infringed upon once more Melbourne teams pop up..

As for the 'Rural' teams you worry about.. lets be honest.. they are straggling and to some extent holding the league back. Townsville will now be playing out of a glorified local RSL, Cairns crowds haven't been great, Wollongong is barely floating along.. if major cities generate the money and leave the rural teams in the dust maybe we should stop fighting evolution and pandering to the weak? Evolution is survival of the fittest and sometimes weaklings die off... sad but true fact of the matter. The league can either forever stay a struggling bush league or it can try to generate some of that selfish MONEY you hate so much and actually try to go places!

In the end.. a change needed to be made. It is a shame for the 'old boys club' they can't sit at a Tigers game for free and reminisce about the days of old.. but the fact is, things change.. Tigers had their run in the sun and people aren't about to forget about the club that gave us Andrew Gaze.

Either way, I find your argument idiotic. These teams are not a charity.. they hope to atleast break even or do better. If you want the league to have the money to bring in great players, more teams etc.. you need to back the occasional leap of faith and the occasional need to put an old dog to sleep so that a young pup can take its place.

I don't like the name 'United' but I understand why they are doing what they are doing... a few wins and an exciting import and things look a lot brighter in Melbourne all of a sudden.

GWB, they are doing what they're doing to get a competitive advantage over the team the NBL wants to bring in in a year's time.

It seems like they are basically trying to sabotage the NBL's expansion in Melbourne. I won't support that sort of strategy.

There is certainly savviness about what they're doing, they're no fools, it will come down to whether it's too clever by half - ie turns off more people than it attracts.

What I don't like about it is it's in clear opposition to the NBL's publicly stated aim of expansion, and that has shades of the 2000s where rich owners just did what they wanted.

Add that to how poorly members/supporters were treated with the announcement out of the blue and I find it hard to get enthusiastic about this new club.

Speaking as a fan of the NBL and one who would go to a rival game between the Dragons and Tigers in the not so old days, I am still waiting for some kind of inspired rivalry to provide me with inspiration and incentive to go back and watch live NBL games in Melbourne.

Should the Tigers have stayed and re branded maybe as Victoria, not Melbourne or changed as they have done is not the big issue any longer, it is, how will we get what the public want now?

We want some rivalry, here in Melbourne/Victoria!

Will United and their strategy kill off a rival bid, and if they do, then I am affraid they have killed off the NBL in Victoria, for me anyway...

^that was me

Paul, maybe its just me, i actually think this could be an opportunity for a Tigers re-launch in a year or 2 as the 2nd Melbourne team, if a potential investor buys the Tigers brand.

I was a subscriber to the 'conspiracy theory' that was posted on here, basically this being a way of re-invigerating the Tigers and the Melbourne rilvary by taking them away temporarily and having them bought back by a savoir, then tigers fans would have there team and would hate United who stole there team, non tigers fans also have a team. If it happens it could work.

But for that to happen they would have to be sure that there is heaps of Tigers supporters, who would actually go to games and support the team financially, so the best way to do that is go to United games in a Tigers jersey and chant the Tigers name. It could give them the best of both worlds. As i say the Tigers were not supported well enough to be viable and hence why the United move was made, i reckon that would be more of a factor than blocking competition, usually when you have 2 strong teams in a region, if there genuinely is enough support the crowds go up for both not down so why would the owners want to block that. If 2 teams cant survive in Melbourne there just isnt enough fans willing to support financially, eg buy tickets, and if thats the case then there is no point having 2 teams.

I almost guarantee if the Tigers were viable as they were, then this move wouldnt have happened, so its upto the fans to get behind there teams and support them so they dont have to make moves like this.

^here here

As for the 'Rural' teams you worry about.. lets be honest.. they are straggling and to some extent holding the league back. Townsville will now be playing out of a glorified local RSL, Cairns crowds haven't been great, Wollongong is barely floating along.. if major cities generate the money and leave the rural teams in the dust maybe we should stop fighting evolution and pandering to the weak?


What a naive statement!
Check out Cairns crowds vs Tigers numbers!

I'm not backing United, not at all.

Here's some reasons why -

1) Tigers fans have been treated appallingly throughout this entire process. No consultation, and then a boring tirade of mixed messages of "no no, it's still the Tigers, we're doing this to survive - this is definitely still your club" followed by "Become a founding member of Melbourne United!". If it's not a new club, then how in the hell would members of 20+ years suddenly become founding members in the year 2014? If they had been open about this from the start, I would have a lot more sympathy.

2) Tigers have survived for a very long time, through some absolutely appalling management (and rosters) over the years. To get rid of Tigers after their first promising season in a very long time, where we had good results and a good roster, as well as a very good run of sell out crowds, is ludicrous. Which brings me to ...

3) The owners had no intention of trying to keep, let alone save the Tigers. The name Melbourne United has been registered for a very long time (over 18 months prior to the announcement, from memory?), and as a result of this early decision, they also declined many opportunities to capitalise from the success of the last season. I'd been wondering why we could get early bird membership sign ups at the last home game (as we had been able to do in previous years), why basic merch hadn't been restocked all season, and why easy sales like the heritage round single hadn't even been considered. Because they knew there would be no more Tigers at the end of the season.

4) Which, makes it even worse that all of us long term fans (and short term - doesn't matter, a fan is a fan) weren't even given the chance to say goodbye to the team we've supported for so long - we just get knocked for six by a random announcement during the off season. That too could have been handled better, by commiserating the end of an era and introducing a new era altogether.

5) Aside from being damaging to Tigers fans, I think this move is detrimental to Basketball in Melbourne at the very least, and the NBL as a whole. This attempt to mesh all prior basketball brands under one banner, making blatant appeals and claims to the history of Titans, Dragons, Magic & Giants is a obvious attempt to corner the nostalgic basketball market (which history has shown to be fairweather at best), and then to capture the state, ahead of the introduction of a second Melbourne team next year. This isn't increasing the chances of a home town rivalry, which Melburnians absolutely love, instead it's trying to obliterate the chances of a competing team remaining viable enough to even become a good rival in the first place. My hope is that enough ex-Tigers fans and other sensible people are willing to support the second team when it emerges and give it a real chance.

6) I don't have to support a Melbourne team, particularly one that I believe is shooting Melbourne basketball in the foot, in order to support the NBL. I will be keeping a closer eye on the other teams I'm fond of, and will support the Crocs for this season. This doesn't translate into stadium tickets, but it does mean I continue to consume the sport by whatever media is offered, kick a bit of money into the Crocs, and keep the conversation happening locally with those around me. I'm also taking a much stronger interest in SEABL. Regardless of this, to suggest that Tigers fans, after being screwed like this, have a responsibility to uphold to their city and the NBL who has allowed this to happen, is ludicrous. United is the team that's damaged and jeopardised this relationship, not Tigers fans.