Oh crap

Sounds like lip service to me.

Me too.. More to this for sure.. going early season....

He talked a big game, be interesting to see what the wash up is.

How long has he been in the job?

I'm sure a bit more will come out in time. This article very briefly touches on it:

http://www.fiba.com/news/midweak-crowds-an-issue-to-grapple-with

The key bit from paul's article:

Some troubling reports emerged that members of the NBL hierarchy had an unexpected disagreement about the league's future direction in front of some shocked potential investors.

One preferred the traditional model - playing games on weekends in big stadiums – while the other wanted a new model that involves more games played in smaller, less expensive venues.

There’s no point scheduling games on random weeknights through the season in the middle of big cities. Most people won’t want to head into town and many won’t even know the game is on.

We already have games in smaller less expensive stadiums. Its called SEABL and CABL, etc.....

So poking for quick profits not expansion and dreaming big !!! Mmmm Corporate visionaries or mercenaries...

I dont understand, the AFL cant even successfully schedule midweek games, why would the NBL be able to?

Its easy have 2 games for every team thurs-sunday so there is still 3 days rest each week. Its basketball, surely the players want to play, the teams will make more money, the fans get more. Wins all around. Of course we need a few more teams for this to work properly.

12 teams, maybe with 2 divisions could make it easier for long distance travel.

play divisional 4 times - 20 games
play non division twice - 12 games

32 game season over 16 weeks.
November to Feb then top 6 play finals in march

Did an existing power-owner's (or staff representative, I imagine) preference for what works for them frustrate Neill? Sounds pretty plausible. Why would a club who sees success on- and off-court want to change away from the formula that works in their city and with their expenditure?

If everybody isnt on the same page something has to give.I'm not a fan of mid week games,hard enough communting 3 hours a day!!!

Mid week game might work for regional towns as it is an event, but seriously?

I like the idea of about 12 to 16 teams in the NBL.

The obvious is to get Brisbane, a second Melbourne team and second NZ team. Then Tasmania (either Hobart or Launceston), Canberra, Geelong, Newcastle. The Singapore experiment did not work due to travel and it's hard to see it happening again. Darwin seems void of any national teams. Maybe the hot weather is better for barra fishing than watching a game.

Another option might be to have two positions open to the best SEABL/ABL teams with a pro/rel setup? At the end of their season, they play off for a spot. Current NBL teams have a secure spot, but then perhaps a wildcard spot is opened up and once in, they hold that spot, except if that team finishes with a certain W/L ratio, or below a set position, then the high ranked SEABL teams could challenge for their spot in the NBL with a playoff.

I think regional towns are even less likely to get behind midweek games because they're generally not used to going out and doing things during the week. People from bigger cities are used to events happening all week long.

Adding midweek games is only preaching to the converted.

I don't agree with playing in smaller/cheaper venues either. Townsville's stadium looks like amateur hour to anyone outside of the Crocodiles organisation.

What are the Wildcats suppose to do with their 8500 members (actual season ticket holders not Melbourne's "members")?
Have the game at HBF (previously Challenge) Stadium and each member gets a half of the game each?

What about not allowing any direct entries into the NBL without the following:

Plays in the SEABL for a minimum of 2 years, with an average home crowd of a certain amount.

Minimum bank obviously

Stadium seats a minimum of 3000 fans.

Basically they have 2 years in the seabl to prove they can sustain an NBL team.

Also a different possible system for the season in general could be that the season is in 2 phases:

Phase 1: all 12 teams play each other twice for 22 game over 11 weeks. Break for a couple week over christmas/new year.

Phase 2:

Top 6 teams play a further two games against each other for seedings to a NBL Div 1 Premier League. Semis and Grand Finals top 4

Bottom 6 teams play a further two games against each other for seedings for the NBL Div 2 national title or something. Same format.

This would create a super even and competitive 5 weeks of basketball trying to get the top 4 spots, whilst giving the regional towns with less budget a go at something.

Jack: Whilst Id love to see a NT team, Im not so sure it would ever happen. There seems to be a sponsorship blackhole when it comes to the NT. It would be easy enough to build a full airconditioned venue though.

paul's FIBA article addresses some of the points made about midweek, small stadiums, etc. Things like vetting incoming teams has already been tried. It has been some of the biggest financial players who've abandoned their NBL teams (Groves, Cowan, etc).

Have to make the majority financial and TV is a route for that.

Matthew, the only sponsorship NT would attract would be Government stuff and possible a large organisation like Coke may consider it if the FTA TV was good.

Definitely more too it as per Paul's article.

Mid-week games does not currently work for the NBL, neither the NBL, NRL, or even the European national basketball leagues where the overwhelming majority are all plated on the weekend (with Euroleague/Eurocup intercontinental elitist leagues played mid-week instead).

Nothing like a good sports-politics drama to keep the punters interested.

The NBL will be in some of the papers tomorrow now!

The NBL seems to be losing CEO's/ Chairmen, etc far too often. As a fan who is on the outside looking in, I have to ask whether there are some dysfunctional personalities driving people out time and again? Or is it that people take on the role and then quit once they see insurmountable problems?

I agree with pretty much everything in your article Paul. Especially about keeping the NBL in the news each day. To grow the sport there has to be some hype week in, week out to get people paying attention.

FTA TV can obviously reach far more fans than you can get in a stadium, so if mid-week games can land you a good TV deal with multiple live games per week, then that would be a good thing.

Herein lies the problem though. It sounds like Fraser Neill was perhaps too eager to push forward with this mid-week thing before all the very real problems had been resolved?

There are obviously some things that need to happen before you could make mid-week games a success:
- More teams - 8 is not enough for midweek games
- More thought has to go into the look of the TV coverage in small stadiums with small crowds. I watched the Sixers first away game this year in Townsville and it looked like a rec. league game!
- Not all teams are equal: don't force teams to play midweek games until you are sure they have a viable way to do it. Ie, a venue that is going to look good on TV, can fit all the members and is located somewhere most can get to on a week night.

From the sounds of things, Fraser Neill has butted heads with Perth ownership when there was no need to. Given that none of the things I listed above have happened yet, it seems to me that the NBL would be foolish to move on mid-week games too quickly.

I think the NBL should make mid-week games happen, but not until everything is in place to make it a success.

So where does that leave the Brisbane bid and other possible future franchisees. Andrew Gaze made an interesting observation a while ago stating it is very difficult to attract top flight sporting adminstrators as basketball doesn't have the profile or the dollars.Also its very hard to move forward when clubs are running there own agenda.

As CEO he should have been the rudder guiding the ship...

Wow, well of course we will be hearing more on this news, not great again but let's hope we can start fresh and move forward from it, again!

Mid week games for most families is not great, especially if you have kids that play, not sure the NBL should go down this track, but they need to try things I guess...

I have always thought that a major restructure needs to happen, watch this space...

Introduce the 3 point dunk. No casual fan wants to see Schenscher or Knight laying the ball in when they are open.

I'm with Wilson Sting, bring back the dunk.Ban zoning and 3 points for a dunk.

Roy Ward:

After talking with #NBL15 people on and off record there's little doubt issues between Fraser Neill and the board led to his resignation.

the concern is for injuries on 3points for dunks

Ben Fitzsimons for CEO?

Sit down and have a vision for the League - make sure it ticks whatever criteria are decided upon and then chase it hard.

I said it before they appointed Fraser Neill. They need to throw the kitchen sink at Andrew Demetriou to become the new CEO

Hard to say whats happening but if he's cracked heads with Marvin, then heaven help the NBL for the future.
Perth wouldn't want to play mid week games undoubtedly either home or away.

Demetriou is off to Tennis. Did the deal almost a year ago

"Perth wouldn't want to play mid week games undoubtedly either home or away."
Why not?

Roy Ward has some snippets on Twitter:

Story on Fraser Neill will be online later. He played down board trouble didn't dismiss it. He'll leave in December, not season end

Some quick hits from Fraser which didn't make paper. A TV deal is still a "fair way off"; Expansion continues could be up to 3 teams. #NBL15

Fraser also said he doesn't have a job to go to but hopes to find a job where he can "change stuff or make stuff" #NBL15

I said it before they appointed Fraser Neill. They need to throw the kitchen sink at Andrew Demetriou to become the new CEO

The longer the non expansion of the league happens the less likely it is there ever will be one. The NBL is on the brink of folding and the TV deal for next season isn't close at all.

Brisbane are in. Why? Who knows. Money? Who knows. Admin, who knows. Everything is dependant on the TV rights and the TV people clearly want a product that includes mid week games and a short season.
Right now I recon the NBL is close to folding. The Neill resignation spells trouble and as others have already said if Neill cant win over the Board to achieve his vision, then the next person in will succumb to the same logger head. Marvin.
It's mot that long ago the Wildcats were talking about fully funding the expansion of at least one team. What now?

Please tell me about Brisbane re entering seeing will work for starters. Go ahead.

I dont't know the answer to that question as Boti says below the NBL has taken a body low with Neill leaving.
http://www.botinagy.com/blog/fraser-says-cheers-and-best-of-luck/
3 teams possibly making money. United haven't yet and with everyone under the pump it's crunch time right now.
New clubs wanting to get in and the man with the vision who set it all up has left, because it seems clear to me his vision wasn't that of the NBL board.
I don't know a lot it seems but maybe Boti is onto something when he said "Of course, if, hypothetically, the Perth Wildcats weren't to endorse Neill's idea - not that anyone asked them to play outside the Perth Arena - then maybe the plan was scuttled on the launch pad."
He also says "Well, at the risk yet again of raising the ire of that particular breed of blinded one-eyed fans west of Kununurra - the "we get 11,000-plus to our games so we are the greatest," might=right brigade - the whiff seems to be emanating out of Perth." What would I know.

Strange eh.

I have to agree with #503113 as to which network(s) are interested in NBL. It wouldn't be the government channels because they are getting deep cuts. If Seven wasn't interested in Rugby Union rights then why would they want NBL? and with Marcos Ambrose leaving NASCAR I reckon 7mate would of wanted Marcos to stay but since he's gone, who knows who will snap up the rights.

I doubt Boti's post is guesswork either. There'd be some off-the-record conversations he'd have had before naming names like that.

Outs the Dragons as having spent $7m to win their one championship.

Can't see how the league will extricate itself from this situation of power-clubs setting the agenda unless self-interest takes a back seat or some new amount of money appears to prop everything up. Even if Perth could finance a second team, we saw how well that worked when Groves had Brisbane and Adelaide.

The way you sidetrack rich owners is creating league revenue that is distributed to the clubs. If every club is viable, the league doesn't have to kow-tow to owners because replacements will be easy to find.

At the moment it's the reverse, and the one plan we've had in recent times to try and change that has just walked out the door.

Knowing whats just occured, it will certainly scare off some potential suitors as his replacement.People dont take these roles without doing there due diligence.

From Roy Ward's article:

Neill favours playing some games in smaller venues to take NBL basketball back into the suburbs and also to create more midweek TV matches.

Owners of some bigger franchises disagree with this plan and wish to only play in costly major stadiums.

"There is two sides of equation with stadium deals - how many people can you get in and what's the revenue, but also what's it going to cost and where is your break-even crowd attendances," Neill said.

"One of the great assets the NBL has is that it's portable and you can take the game to the people.

I have concerns now, losing Neill is not in the best interests of basketball in this country...

This is the right path for the WNBL not the NBL

I think it's more about a balance, picking the stadium to suit the game. Weekend games that will draw a crowd in big stadiums, weeknight games in smaller stadiums closer to people's homes.

If the NBL can find a TV network that wants to broadcast a quantity of games on weekends that's great, if they can't then you have to tailor the product a little.

By having a mix of smaller and bigger venues - depending on what works for each club - you can have good points from both worlds.

If you are genuinely interested in this topic I would say read my article, because it covers a lot of what has been spoken about here:

http://www.fiba.com/news/midweak-crowds-an-issue-to-grapple-with

How many suburban stadiums have the necessary lighting required to televise games?

I listed a number in my article (and there are more I haven't listed) but if you need more you use your TV money to install it.

What a TV deal that covers every game provides, apart from some sort of rights deal, is an attractive proposition for league and clubs sponsors. The more you are on TV, the more opportunities to raise revenue, even enough for a few lights at a small number of venues.

Anon, Marvin didn't vote against it. I think he undermined Neill in front of a bid group including government representatives.

From Boti's story today, a quote from former-Olympian Mark Dalton:

"The saturation of [Perth] on the coverage this season is over the top. Six out of the 12 games so far and four out of the next five including a double-header (again) next weekend? FFS."

Mark went on to point out that Nick Marvin, who currently is NBL Chairman, also doubles as CEO/Managing Director of the Perth Wildcats.

I think the NRL should be looked at as an example in some ways as there are similarities.

League is trying to expand in similar ways to basketball, yet it is still considered a northern states dominated sport. Basketball therefore may have more potential within Aus and NZ and like League and soccer it is great on TV.

AFL is always better viewing live, at the game, but TV is in love with it and the $$$ are huge. But we need not concern ourselves with the AFL as it is not played during the summer season. Nore is the NRL, I am only using the sport viewed on TV as an example.

NRL crowds are not always huge, similar stadium size and numbers to the A-League, but TV is all over those sports (and the cricket).

NRL is especially good on TV as the play is isolated in a line most of the time, making following the game and using camera angles very effective.

Basketball is also a sport where TV can focus on most of the play, it is a great game to watch on TV and live, think of how well the NBA does this...

The NBL board needs to get the NBL mix right and work to establish the product with the best concepts we can and if they do I can't see why TV would not want to get on board, but all the negative media, uncertainty and ill direction isn't helping...

unlikely to watch perth agen this sunday

cooper tells media one thing and refs do another. off topic, but it just struck me kinda funny