Anon^ are you saying the new stadium proposal for Ballarat will fall over because a new Government has been elected?

Nice idea for one or two games a season, for all city teams to consider a regional home game.

Remember the "titts" game s decade or so back? No clubs are doing those games now voluntarily so it might draw into question how successful these games are.

The OP makes an interesting point about the regular membership base.

If done well it is only an hour or so to Ballarat from Melbourne, Geelong or Bendigo so I think the membership base could be well accommodated for.

Include the fact that traffic is less congested in Ballarat and Melbournites could make a day of it, I like the idea, not for too many games but certainly one or two here and there for United and the new team.

To connect with country Victoria is not a bad idea, what makes the NBL better is a proper TV deal and better coverage on TV...

I would have the priority for the NBL was more games in MELBOURNE (ie a 2nd team.)

Dazz, we shouldn't underestimate the support of regional Victoria for an NBL team.

From a TV point of view a home game played at Ballarat or Bendigo will pull similar viewership to a game played at Hisense.

My issue is that regional games appeared to fail previously (no matter how nice the traffic may be in those regional centres) so why would they work now?

I'm sure there are regional fans of NBL everywhere.
Question is whether s regional game is more viable than the city game it replaces.

If you compare it to playing at the Netball centre, then fine. However my view is that long term Melbourne should be aiming to outgrow Margaret Court, even Hisense, and move back to Rod Laver.

#508353

I have posted twice in this thread. In the first post I mentioned the titts games a decade or so ago.

In the second I used the phrase "appeared to fail". Not once did I use the word miserably.

To answer your question. Around the time of Rymarz or Ali the league ran a whole series of "titts - taking it to the streets" games. Most (if not all) teams were regularly taking a game or two to regional centres. I think in some cases some teams "sold" home games to other teams (this sits in my memory for some reason).

My point is that this 'experiment' quickly dried up. Teams stopped doing it. Why? I guess because it did not work. I think its easy to sell-out Bunbury or Mt Gambier or Mackay for a one-off NBL game. But "sell-outs" in small venues are not a true measure of success.

Here are my guesses. Its harder to broadcast these games. (especially now with nbl.tv). Its harder to convince sponsors they are getting value for money in front of 1300 people at Mt Gambier versus 4500 in Adelaide. Its a bit of a slap in the face for your members - especially if, as I suspect it would in some cases, their membership base would outsell the regional venue.

Perth played games in Darwin. And they were paid handsomely by the NT government to do it. North Melbourne and Hawthorn play games in Tassie, with lucrative Tassie government support AND the guarantee of live tv coverage of those games. And they take weak drawing teams there - teams they might just "break even" against at home.

I subscribe to the theory that just because something didn't work decades ago does not mean it can't work today in the 21st century.

If the TV deal was good enough and the stadium holds enough people and they did the promotion properly then, just like the WNBL in Bendigo, I can't see why it wouldn't be worth a shot...

Success is measured, therefore the level of success needs to be considered beforehand. If we just want to compare a country venue with the Hisense we are not talking about a fair comparison, not necessary to judge success this way IMO!

Won't Melbourne be forced into smaller venues due to the Australian Open anyway?

They go back to the State Netball and Hockey Centre for two games in January.

"Perth played games in Darwin"
In the Challenge Stadium era.

If you only have a small venue, (or can only sell a small number of seats) then being paid to play in a slightly smaller regional venue is no biggy.

You wouldn't find the Cats doing it now they can sell out the Arena.

The NBL needs to look at their marketing & branding in Melbourne.
I think Melbourne still holds the record for an NBL game? (A Melbourne "cross-town derby" final in the 90s?)

maybe because the tennis is on?

"In the Challenge Stadium era."
They were playing regional home games back when they were at the Entertainment Centre, too.

Dazz, I would argue that the NBL needs to look at their relevance in Melbourne. Then start looking at marketing and branding once they find something out.