What can the NBL do, which is within its control, to fix these things:

- mobile-first web site; if that's too hard/expensive, build an interim sub-site which gives quick access to schedule info and live stats links. Give me the data (fixed schedule and live stats links for every game ahead of time) and I'll do it.
- loads of shareable videos/plays, stats, facts (can surely be done immediately)
- put video somewhere it loads quickly/reliably (YouTube)
- fewer long articles and more shorter articles combined with GIFs/videos
- get more info out about each game on social media
- empower users to help contribute these things
- have a volunteer seed Hoops with game threads for every game, info about telecast, stats links and so on; it's free so you might as well; email it to me and I can paste it in
- if they can't pay someone a wage to do this stuff, get media/social interns or pay an offshore VA to do it x hours/week on the cheap

As a Wildcats fan perhaps I am spoilt compared to the rest of the league but I can definitely see alot of missed opportunities and lack of cheap and easy online presence.

I think most teams have upped their twitter and facebook presence recently which is good but how much of your facebook timeline is loaded with your friends liking "funny" videos? Imagine if your friends timelines were sprinkled with you liking highlights of NBL games and highlight plays?

Go have a look at the Wildcats youtube page

https://www.youtube.com/user/perthwildcats82

Imagine if every team did that? Imagine if the NBL did that for every team? Then each team links to the NBL youtube highlights on facebook and it starts to litter peoples timelines, you dont need to be as brash as to share it, if they have the settings right, and perhaps pay a little extra, just liking it should start to show up in other peoples timelines.

As far as offline promotion, once again Wildcats set the example. There are posters up in the city train stations, busses wrapped with advertising, flags in the city malls, ads in the newspaper. Now money is required for this BUT on and the day before game day I often see wildcats employees handing out pamphlets in the city malls to passers by. I have had several people in my office come up to me with one and ask me about the games.
Get a "street team" of volunteers if you cant pay someone to do this, I am sure it wouldn't be hard to find a handful of people who would be willing to do this.

The nbl website itself is indeed not good. Something to do with the perform deal is what gets bashed around when it's inefficiencies come up. Hopefully they can get a better website at the end of this season.

To be fair the gifs that come up on r/NBA are created by fans. But yes r/NBA is a wealth of knowledge and something I wish we could have something similar for the NBL. There is an r/NBL but it is largely inactive.

Isaac, I understand your concerns with NBL.tv however, touch wood, it's been alot more stable so far this season for me at least (not including the recent Townsville games)
I am going to get a Damian Martin bobble head tomorrow morning, which with the purchase, at the Wildcats store, which is open almost as regularly as a normal retail shop, they are giving away FREE nbl.tv, want me to grab the code for you?

alexkrad, good to get a Perth perspective because I have wondered about how much of my engagement this year is determined by the fact Adelaide and Wollongong (latter especially) have had mediocre seasons, and how TV games live in the east are delayed in Adelaide. For a Perth fan, you get good results, good social media, good off-season marketing, etc.

I feel awful telling my brother that I've barely watched a game of his all year. I was even pre-booked when he last played in Adelaide and had to miss that game. Last year I followed his season really closely, watched other random NBL.TV games, etc.

Well said, and this needs to be sent back to NBL HQ so they can see the frustration that fans are having. The NBL has been poorly marketed this year.

I too have tried to offer my professional services numerous times to the NBL and its clubs, with trying to lift the overall design and marketing standards across the league. Everything from the logos, the branding, the website is all so underwhelming and it reflects on the NBL, sadly in a very bad way. This is such a key area where they should invest some time and money and get it right! People are still supporting and buying way more NBA gear than NBL, and it should almost be the other way around.

This is only one area of improvement, like all the things Isaac said above, there needs to be a big shake up again.

I have been saying this for ages - they have a model that they can copy ... the A-League.

The A-League is improving every year - getting bigger and better every year, better players come, better quality, better games, which means it gets bigger, easier to market - it is self-fulfilling.

They don't market to families - they market to fans.

The NBL needs to appeal to fans again - make it a fan league.

If you wonder about my consistent mentioning of animated GIFs, over the last few years, I've noticed a real trend towards people favouring GIFs over videos for segments under about 10 seconds. Perfect for sports highlights or general antics. Online aggregators have moved to GIFs where appropriate because they are so effective. Places like Reddit (and the NBA sub-reddit especially), Buzzfeed, etc. You can talk shit about Buzzfeed for being trash, but they are killing it because they are giving a lot of people what they want.

Gfycat is a service which is a bit of a GIF/HTML5 video hybrid. These are really popular. Here's an example of a highlight and replay from the NBA using Gfycat. For me, it loads really quickly and I see exactly what I want.

Why do people favour such old, dorky tech? I suspect it's because of a few things: GIFs are silent so they won't embarrass you if you load one in the office or on your phone amongst others. They don't have a 30 second ad beforehand. They load immediately so you don't have to worry about whether the video embed chrome will work on your device. And they autoplay, so there's no hesitation. I think it's a psychological package. If you post:

Rhys Martin buzzer beater forces overtime (nbl.com.au)
Rhys Martin buzzer beater forces overtime (youtube.com.au)
Rhys Martin buzzer beater forces overtime (gfycat.com)

I'm going to watch the third one for sure. The second one I'll watch if I think it's especially interesting or benefits from crowd audio or commentary. The first one I'll probably ignore because there's no indication of what to expect and no expectation of the league doing the right thing, and I know it's going to take ages to load because of all the cruft around the actual content.

So, GIF/gfycat/similar for quick highlights, YouTube for things like Plays of the Week, Breakers vs Hawks game highlights, etc, and then page on the NBL site for something that combines a few things.

I think to grab more casual fans the TV deal is paramount and what we have currently is a joke.

The broadcaster has no interest in promoting the league or the product which it is producing. Look at all the ads you see for Big Bash at the moment, could you imagine if they put half that effort into the NBL? not only would TV numbers be up but that would directly feed into seats being sold at games due to new fans and new interest being shown in the league. And this wouldn't cost the NBL itself a cent, the broadcaster should have this in their interest to increase viewers, to increase advertising revenue.

On top of that, in this day and age sports on TV have to be live. I havnt watched many games on TV, and I watch at least 2-3 non-wildcats games a week, depending on if they clash with me being at a game or not, sometimes all the games seem to be on friday?

I know people go on about free to air and I can understand the importance, but if Foxtel is going to show every game live and promote it with advertising all over their sports channels, then give it to them.
The die hards will still hopefully have an NBL.tv equivalent if they dont want to pay for fox sports, but at least the league will be getting pushed into a market which will likely show an interest in the league.

Hopefully this is the last season of the old deals Basketball Australia bought in and we can move forward next season.

Hopefully the damage hasn't already been done and it's not too late.

Isaac, some good points. I have missed seeing your happy face at the Sixers, but hopefully we might see you next Sunday when the Hawks are in town.

The league itself does need a shake up and needs to look to other sports for ideas to engage the fans.

Isaac, I'm actually the opposite - I've been more engaged with the NBL this year than ever, and have hardly followed NBA at all despite being an avid fan in the past.

I have watched nearly every available game on NBL.TV and have been very impressed as a first-time subscriber. I'm not interested in seeing stats or gifs or highlights; I just want to watch live games.

I get plenty of supplementary info and engagement from Twitter, although I would like to see more stories such as the ones which ran on the NBL website last year by people like Chris Anstey. Josh Childress's articles in that Sydney newspaper this year are great, but that's all that exists apart from a few poorly written NBL blogs.

So while people like to criticise the NBL for not being the NBA, there are plenty of people who don't want the gifs and recycled memes that the NBA's culture promotes.

I am been the least interested in the NBL this year in my time following it but I do have the Brisbane team to look forward to. I really hope this Brisbane team has decent money and staff because there is nothing worse than the team playing in an empty arena in its first season.

Something else I am really big on this past year or so is podcasts.

I understand they cater more toward the die hard fans, and alot of the information they contain are just recaps of stories you've already read or know about but I still can't get enough of them.

Downtown's Grizz & Tizz do a weekly NBL recap which thankfully the NBL itself promotes on it's website and facebook page.

Although the NBL didn't directly produce it, it's definitely one thing they have done right this season.

Anon950. The NBL and the teams know these issues. They have for some time. I'm not sure if its lack of resources or care factor.

We (ATF) had access to NBL videos so we could upload highlights, top 5 plays etc, like we did the last few seasons. We also had weekly videos planned for YouTube this season, much like Eddie Johnson's on Hoopshype, however before the start of the season we had our access to NBL videos stripped so with no video access we decided against doing any consistent video content. It's just too hard without access to highlights.

If you missed out what happened last season.. We had been doing weekly top 5 plays until some started getting flagged for copyright infringements by YouTube. After some investigating we found out it was someone from the league office that flagged them, even though they have my number and email address and could have easily contacted myself about any issues. After that we stopped the top 5 plays and the league started their own the following week. Which was fine with us, the only reason why we were doing it was because there was a hole that needed to be filed, and we could do it.. So we did. Only thing is, they have not continued it this season.

In saying that, It's good to see they do a weekly highlight package for the POTW.

Also during the pre-season the teams were told not to share any content from 3rd party websites. Which after everything is a bit of a kick in the teeth.

We've asked for raw data for things like live stats but all requests have been ignored.

This season we wanted to move ATF towards a almost video only website. No access to video content makes it impossible.

In all honesty after this season I'm going to seriously consider retiring ATF/NBL Wiki or passing it on. I love the game and the league but it's easier to channel my passion for the game towards coming up with an original idea to cover the NBA or another league.

"What explanation did they give?"

None. Contacted PERFORM multiple times, no replies (usually they are very prompt with us). Contacted the NBL and after asking a number of people, someone finally said they will find out why but have never got back to us as to why even though I've asked multiple times.

This is a great post and so very true.

There are common themes in many successful businesses, sports businesses are no different. The key elements are product, finance and marketing. All 3 elements are important and they are interdependent. If you fall down in one area it will impact on the others.

The NBL has a great product on the court, a high quality competition, but there are not as many teams as we would like and we lose our best players overseas because the money on offer is better elsewhere.

I think the weaknesses in the product and the finance areas are largely a result of the issues in terms of marketing. The NBL has very little marketing budget, nor do the teams, but I feel there is a focus on traditional marketing, when twitter, facebook and other social media outlets can be far cheaper and easier to access. The traditional media outlets have written the NBL off and do not value the game as we would like them to.

Open things up to the good bloggers out there, the people who already do this for free. Give them better access, give them support and guidance as to what you want, and these passionate people will do the job that needs to be done and do it cheap.

The NBL cannot continue to adopt an old school approach to a new era of media.

I am really enjoying the NBL. Been following since the 80's and whilst I still miss the old Apollo days the level of bball is pretty good. It wasn't long ago that we were faced with the 36ers not being around which would have been unbearable. Hopefully you get your Mojo back !

Also Nat at ATF not having access to NBL content is almost criminal. He, along with many others, do a brilliant job.

If the NBL took its time to actually check out ATF and other sites, they would see a consistent and professional output that works in the NBL's best interests.

Encourage those who are trying to help you, don't restrict them.

Jimmy, which team are you primarily following and where are you based? Wonder if that prevents you from being exposed to some of the issues?

Isaac, have you discussed/raised your concerns with these people?

If I was to hazard a guess regarding 3rd party video content being shut down by the league it would be pretty simple, Perform own the contract for all online video NBL content, so therefore they are within their rights to demand any other 3rd party showing the content they have rights to to cease and desist.
If someone took your car for a drive that you own without asking you would ask for it back wouldn't you?

Now this is obviously not a good situation but I think it's probably out of the NBL's hands.

Why they cannot communicate this to the involved parties doesn't make sense though.

Each club and the NBL itself are obviously is within it's rights to do what they want with the footage, see wildcats youtube page.
So nothing stopping that from happening from within.

Nat, weren't you involved with the Hawks producing a weekly youtube show last season?
Why did that stop?
Why couldn't your content just come out under the umbrella of the Hawks channel?

I would say that I have probably watched about 3/4 of an NBL game TOTAL this season. Like Isaac, I find it difficult to engage with the NBL this season and I struggle to find anything that actually hooks me in to the season.

The biggest thing I have noticed is a lack of NBL presence on Twitter. I am constantly on Twitter throughout the day (the benefit of being on holidays) and I am barely ever seeing much NBL related content - from official accounts or even accounts I know have interests in the league - in comparison to NBA content.
Don't get me wrong, the NBL is a small league in comparison to the NBA, but that doesn't mean the social media presence needs to be. I follow a lot of NBA related users, and in the last 10 minutes alone (between about 3:30-3:40pm) I have seen the following things:

- People live tweeting NBA games (POR v MIA)
- Discussion of NBA All-Star "worthiness" of players
- Live updates on player injuries/physical conditions at halftime
- NBA D-League score information
- Halftime stats (showing season stats; eg: record when trailing at halftime, avg points in 4th quarters, etc.)
- Short Video/GIF of a collision which led to possible injury
- Link to video of EJ Rowland punching a fan who ran on court
- Booking flyer for 36ers Quiz Night
- "Rapid Replay" video of NBA highlight play
- Breaking news on former NBA player

That's just in the last 10 minutes. ONE post relating to current NBL teams, and a heap relating to NBA stuff (current game, breaking news, stats, analysis of other stories/games). Fast forward this to later tonight when the NBL is on, and I highly doubt I will see that much NBL related content going on during the whole of tonights game!

People will argue that Twitter isn't as big in Australia, or that I can't make this judgement because it will be skewed based on accounts I choose to follow, etc. but at the end of the day, the exposure just isn't there for a fan to engage with on this single platform.

In my opinion, this is just one of the small things that the NBL and Clubs can change without much effort or cost but will potentially have a significant impact on the ways in which fans engage and interact with NBL content.

For me being located in Perth I find the TV to be a massive problem an up to 5hour delay on fridays coverage and 3 hours on Sunday does not make it worthwhile watching games outside of the wildcats games especially since I attend all home wildcats games anyway.

alexkrad, NBA would have very strict deals with media partners too. I imagine they turn a bit of a blind eye to what fans do with mixes and highlights packages. It all keeps people interested in the NBA.

The most annoying things for me are all the easily fixable problems that literally don't cost anything other than time to implement.

I cut them slack for lack of advertising dollars spent, but every NBL fan could probably name 10 things off the top of their head that are broken that could be quickly fixed with policy, not $$$.

Also a big concern for me that doesn't get mentioned as often as other problems is the atrocious standard of officiating.

Every time I watch an NBL game with a casual fan they literally have no idea what's going on, yet they can follow an NBA game perfectly well. It's solely because of the wild inconsistencies in the officiating (and that's not to mention the blind consistency: the calls they consistently get wrong).

People who haven't followed the game for a long time and can't see the rationale behind the mistakes our hapless refs are making find it very hard to follow. When I watch it I can go "oh, I see WHY they made that call, but it's completely wrong", whereas the casual fan just goes, "This game is a joke, I have no idea what's going on, I'm watching something else."

Something's gotta give there. It's turning lots of people off.

I, like Isaac, have followed the NBL less this year than ever.

Partly it's because my team stinks, but a big part of it is because I get so frustrated when I watch a game at all the calls that are just blatantly wrong, I end up turning the game off, if I ever turn it on at all.

Not saying that marquee players don't help, but...

state governments anyone to assist!

If you read the post you would understand that 30 games in 6 months is stuff all games compared to what they would get in a Nba schedule and with that only playing one-two games per week would seem like a holiday for them!

Spot on in so many ways Isaac, I actually gave the NBL a go this season, notwithstanding the United in and Tigers dead debacle.

However, it is all just too hard, you see I have Foxtel so I can get all the College NCAA, Euro League and NBA basketball I can hope to watch. I can view any college game via the internet with a $10.00 per month access account.

But, to watch the NBL is just not friendly to my lifestyle, sure going to a live game would be awesome, but they are too few and far between and to be honest I would prefer to go and watch my Supercats 10 minutes down the road to driving up the freeway and spend half the day watching one Melbourne based team with no rival...

I agree, the NBL has a long road ahead of it I'm afraid!

Something out the box (not for most sports but for the NBL) I would like to see a push for is Fantasy and Tipping. Yes there is tipping if you look hard enough, footytips.com.au, and dream team, but really push it.

Footy tipping in offices and workplaces is common practice, making people who couldnt give a shit about football take notice if for nothing than just some conversation.

Look at fantasy in American sports, and dream team for AFL. The fantasy stats are common talking points in the media, specifically online media and even I don't watch much AFL but I am sure I seen them with dream team numbers during games.

Don't know if we are all just being keyboard warriors for no reason here.. Do people with some influence or at least a voice lurk these posts?

The idiots who post on the facebook comments might make the league think the fans are all nut jobs with no idea.

How do we actually bring up these concerns with the league?

Many people have spoken on here about the easy things that they need to address.

The key exposure point for most business' these days is a web site. The NBL's website is a horrible place to get information in so many ways.

Right now on the front page I see that Jordan McRae leads the league in scoring at 22.2 ahead of Josh Childress on 21.5 until you click on the detailed stats where McRae is actually 2nd on 21.2

Surely these are easy errors to fix up.

Look up Larry Davison's profile and apparently he played between 1979 and 1985 before returning to the league in 2004.
And they have credited him for 2 games played at the start of the year he did not even suit up in.

416 games played when he hasnt even played 300 yet.

Easy things to fix but makes the league look real amateur.

Why not have team affiliate with nba teams. With Ennis, Wilbekin and to a lesser extent Daniels surely it's been a good example and alternative to d league. Imagine if the Jazz could send Exum to nbl to work on his game. And teams like the 76ers could tank to their hearts content and have Noel and Embiid come back from injury plus work on their offence. Plus teams could exchange have coaching pathways either way as well.
Instead the nbl proudly announces marquee signings like Dave Barlow and Brock Motum, ugly tall white guys that wouldn't go inside the 3 point line if they're lives depended on it. It's like watching wnba, no dunking but their fundamentals are fantastic.!
But I suppose only Perth have only looked at tapping into that while the rest of the league look at them saying I wish we could be like them, it's not fair they sell out home games and make a profit.
As for the 36ers, what do they do for the district clubs. Fill up the nose bleed sections with cheap or free tickets and get them in the door. Make the kids get a thirst then they'll be the ones bugging the parents to go.
Look at the bbl now. Over 20,000 per game with 75% of the players never going to play international or are has beens like Flintoff yet their marketing is fantastic. Outside of Tait most would struggle to name another strikers player. They advertise games as Flintoff vs George Bailey, Brett Lee Vs Peterson, fireworks and cool music. What do the 36ers do? Some players in the dark walking down a tunnel with funeral music playing.

alexkrad - I was last season. This season is mostly a new front office (and obviously ownership). They decided not to continue it this season for some reason.

Isaac - Nothing to do with the Hawks record but yeah like you said being stone walled all the time has slowed down a lot of momentum.

I think it's a great point re: you don't visit the NBA's official site. I'm 100% the same with the NBA. I visit various popular blog sites, twitter and youtube as well as podcasts when I'm working. I can't remember the last time I visited the NBA's official site.

OK, just watching Kings vs. Crocs.

Can someone please tell me who that was interviewing Dennis pre-game.

The guy was wearing casual clothing. He looked and sounded like he had just been snatched from the stands.

Disgustingly unprofessional.

That is a classic example of what's wrong.

Also, can we please stop with the in-game interviews:

1. I can't hear what they're saying;
2. The content of the interview is absolutely horrible. The player doesn't add anymore than what the commentators do (and it's not like they should..I mean what else can they say?)

My step dad watched basketball for the first time in ages (he is an old school ex pro baller). He saw the in game interview, swore and laughed and changed the channel. He was upset at it..as an old school player I guess he (rightfully) doesn't approve of it.

And that's the problem. If people like you and me (who are hoops mad) can't watch an NBL game...then how can the league expect non-basketball fans to all of sudden tune in.

I havent bothered reading all above so apologise if im going over old ground.
Isaac hits the nail on point 3.

Major issue I find is that logging onto www.nbl.com.au to check or view live stats is almost impossible. Ive given up.
If semi pro leagues around oz can do it why cant the NBL. It turns out to be a mission and a half just to view live scores or to even find a box score.
Surely this is basketball 101 stuff!
The website is useless.
This is an easy fix so why cant this be done>>>

Tim Gossage via twitter -
@7Scott77 @Jesse_Hogan @paulcochrane can't see any other network jumping out of trees to grab NBL. Take it or leave

Tim Gossage via Twitter -
@landsboroughcc not referring to Big Bash. I suggest it will be staying on Ten for some years to come. Enjoy it.

Interesting this season is losing momentum. Is it because the the only crowds reaching potential in the top 4 are the Wildcats. Sixers are still drawing better crowds PHP that the other top 3 which is poor for the other 3 in the 4 comparatively with their star power and population. That the domination of FTA TV is towards certain clubs and that the Umpiring is the most consistent in years and I personally turn off and come away from games even if my team wins, so frustrated I don't enjoy it. I can't see how the teams and coaches, even those in the top 4 are going away saying well we deserved that and even more so with such great umpiring. It is anyones guess as to what is going on and the communication from the NBL is poor. Fans turn to the NBA and Euro league as they love the sport, they know the sport and the rules which in themselves are complex. They are engaged and informed and there is creditability in the format and the commentators understanding and calling of the game and in
the reviews and explanations on the calls. That comes with clear and consistent application of the rules. We here left with the NBL are only to be uninspired and I fear for our local talent now being blocked as more money and new rules to try and bandaid fix the league with change instead. But if every time you change you do not address the ongoing issues, it will never ever take off. If only the players could anonymously tell us their real thoughts, but alas that would be in the players worse interest.... or would it...

I think the NBL is like the old NSL 15 years ago. Needs to be killed off and revamped.

I had a dream of a league (separate to NBL)...........

- Isaac developed a decent nbl website (with mobile/tablet version) and based on video/content sharing
- ATF and pickandroll were in charge of content
- There were 10 teams (Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney, Brisbane, North Queensland, Auckland, Darwin, Wollongong)
- Season length of 10 rounds over 2 months with each team playing each other once
- 90s NBA rules in place
- Top 4 finals systems with the GF being a 3 game series
- No import rules but emphasis to teams to hire athletic players across the board
- hire NBA d league referees for the two months
- FTA TV deal with live games nationally
- BBL marketing teams used for this league. Including individual marketing for each team that links local junior leagues to the team
- Game night presentation to be less about the sport and more about entertainment
And last but not least.........
- Fan friendly game night pricing

Just basing most of this on what people have said here.

Oops 2 more for me
- emphasis on entertaining play to players, coaches and referees (ie not calling a carry on a fast break like I just saw in crocs kings game)
- bring back the personalities in players, anyone else feel like players in all sports are now just robots when speaking to commentators/media

I would change parts to your answer @Flinders80
- New Zealand, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Wollongong, Cairns, Townsville, Singapore and Hobart (10 teams)
- Season length of 30 rounds consisting of 6 months
- FTA (4 games live) and Foxtel (all games live) for H/A season. FTA having exclusive rights to finals with Foxtel playing delayed coverage
- Top 4 playing finals with best of 5 for Grand Final and best of 3 for semi

Perform are responsible for the NBL's website AFAIK. Hopefully once they're out at the end of the season, things will improve.

koberulz, we've had that hope with each change of partner and off-season.

Been watching this thread from a distance and felt it time to chime in with my two cents worth.

I have watched quite a few NBL games this season, albeit on FTA TV having not attended a live game.

The on court product IMHO is not the problem. The talent on display is arguably the best in years. It is what the league and the teams do to promote the games, players and the league that remains a massive problem. There is overall little connection with grassroots, and minimal exposure being provided via the multitude of social media platforms.

Perth appear to be doing it right. They are connecting with fans at grassroots level. They are active across a myriad of channels, and interacting with the fans at various levels.

However right now, it appears that the marketing and promotion of the league is really being left up to the teams to manage on a local level.

The team at PnR has been trying all year to gain the support of the NBLHQ, trying to gain official access to games, content etc, just not to the extent than Nat has been able to get for ATF. Like ATF, we have a small yet dedicated group of people willing to help write about and promote the game for virtually nothing. However NBLHQ makes it hard to do so despite the support our coverage provides their product.

We got some great traction for the pre-season blitz, and then since then very little from NBL head office.

There is no doubting that the NBLHQ has precious little resources to do what is needed. However they make it very hard for anyone else to help their cause.

PnR has in just over a year been able to expand its coverage of the NBA, college and even Europe! One of the key enablers is access to content. This is something that is not being provided or made available by the NBLHQ at the present time. It is worth also noting that the same issues are also being experienced with the WNBLHQ.

PnR has been able to gain media accreditation to NBA and college games, and has even achieved official Euroleague media partner status in less than a year! However it is pretty damning when we struggle to do the same in our own back yard.

We just want to help promote the great game of hoops in Australia.

Is it time to revert to a semi-professional league? Schedule trainings in the early morning or late evening and allow 4-5 of the 12 contracted to have part-time jobs/work full time in the off-season, re-schedule sponsorship and corporate commitments to more convenient times etc.

I don't believe reduced salaries would cause a mass exodus of players..i mean where would they go? Those 8,9,10 etc players wouldn't get deals overseas worth anymore.

NBL players should be able to get jobs easy. I don't buy into this whole "firms won't hire me because they want a regular and secure employee".

All Black Conrad Smith is a qualified lawyer and works in a Wellington law firm during the off-season (also works part time during the Hurricanes SR season). The firm loved having him and you can imagine it was good for their business.

MACDUB, I don't think that's necessary though any way the league can enable teams to compete on a budget would be smart. e.g., three imports, four imports, etc. An import at a talent level will generally be cheaper than the Australian equivalent.

I like the idea of a 3-4 import allocation per team.

Naturally, people will argue that will harm the development of local talent.

I couldn't disagree more. There are a lot of local players who wont ever be Boomers players or go on to play at the higher level. Australian basketball will be fine with or without these players..its harsh but true.

The NBL is an absolute mess right now, and I don't blame channel ten even slightly for not promoting it. The game is an eyesore on TV, ugly venues, ugly and boring play style most of the time. Why would a TV network invest in the NBL? If I were a network hoping to make money, I would ship the NBL off. The NBL was showing potential last year, but it has absolutely fallen to shit right now.

I have lost complete interest in the league. Despite the fact we have some great imports and some good returning Australians nothing is being done to make the game prettier, or more entertaining. No one outside of Perth is trying to engage the fans. It has been an uninspired effort from the NBL and I feel like this has just been another "wait til next season" season's.

Fraser Neil was hamstrung from the start getting any of his changes through the committee or whatever it is. The powers that be - in the NBL are too scared of making even the slightest changes and the league is stagnating because of it. There has been no official announcement for Brisbane and there has been no talk of any real changes to suit a new network, or to improve the league for the next season, despite the big talk Neil was giving.. I doubt any of his ideas will live on now he is gone.

Hate the lack of rotation in the schedule. Not interesting.

Let's adopt North Korea rules

NORTH KOREA'S BASKETBALL SCORING RULES

- Slam dunks are worth three points (up from two)

- Field goals in the final three minutes of the game are worth eight points (up from two)

- Three-pointers are worth four if the ball doesn't touch the rim

- A point is deducted for missed free throws

I'm actually mostly serious. Maybe not as many as 8 points in final minutes.
Let's face it, most non basketball fans love dunks, the game will be winnable till the final siren.
The attraction of bbl is that it's fast paced, high scoring and a team can go nuts in final overs to cause upset.
It might not be traditional but will create new interest both locally and internationally.

Sadly the NBL is dead.

I used to love watching our bball league.

A couple of factors have contributed to this death.

1.Mismanagement of the league by all concerened.

2.Teams Folding.

3."Attainable" status of being able to play in the NBA for our elite players.

4.Access to League Pass and Euro Leage games.

5.Level of contracts in other over seas leagues, Euro League and China.

NBL as we knew it is dead.

So people don't follow NBL because its not up to the standard of The NBA?

FMD

Maybe being the most isolated capital city in the world has its advantages, but coming from Perth, I just cannot understand all the bitching and moaning that goes on...

I'm from Perth, that means I follow the Wildcats (and The Eagles, The Warriors, The Scorchers, and to some extent The Heat, The Glory, and The Fever.) It's simple.
But all I seem to hear from other cities is people bitching about why they don't want to follow their team.
Melbourne has one team (just like Perth) but it seems most Victorians would rather hate on it.
Brisbane doesn't even have a team, and yet it still seems their "Basketball Fans" would rather bitch and moan about the NBL than get of their assess and support a team.

And of course, lets all have a big cry about how "spoilt" Perth fans are. Sure we have the most successful team, and one of the best venues, but I have supported the Cats for about 30 years, long before there was an internet or twitter, and including the lean years spent at Challenge Stadium.

Well Dazz, good for you. But the fact is, we don't have to support any of it at all. The Wildcats make an effort for Perth. You are courted by a club that actually cares about you, and in your little distant oasis the NBL probably looks just fine to you. Hey, Perth dominates Friday night One Hd timeslot. If the NBL were only Perth, the NBL would be in great shape.

But it is not. You have "Perth Privilege". You don't even really need to consider the state of the league outside of your own backyard. So long as the NBL exists, and so long as you have the funds of one of the countries riches men, all will be right for your team. That is not true however, for our league, and everyone elses teams.

Every other team, Dazz, is either on the cusp of folding, or at very most breaking even financially. Generally, they are all a blunder away from falling apart. This is a problem you don't even have to think about. And while these teams are on shoe strings, real fans, fans like us, who have a right to feel indignation, feel the kind of dismay a parent feels when its child doesn't even attempt to survive - when clubs and the NBL dont even reach out to its fans or have any idea how to grow its fan base or capitalise on some of the few pluses it has inherited.

No one expects the NBL to be anywhere near the standard of the NBA. But some professionalism would be nice. The NBL just looks like a backyard abortion clinic. Those at the helm of the NBL couldn't run a brothel in Thailand, and they the league is doing the game in this country more harm than good right now.

The NBL just last year use to be more exciting on court. And, in the 90's, although it has never been in the same stratosphere as the NBA, it was- an exciting and globally respected league. What is the NBL now? A failure to capitalise at every turn. An uninspired hack, granted opportunities it wilfully and ignorantly squanders.

Bender if we go Chinese the do we have the fights from the crowds on the players and refs as well !!! Seriously, don't go there..

Fraser Neill was not hamstrung from overseeing the sorts of changes I have listed as easy to start.

Well said, Isaac. It's no secret the NBL and many clubs are cutting costs this year waiting out the end of the current broadcast deals. I just hope they don't lose too many fans doing it, because the progress over the past few years had been steady, it's a real shame we appear to have gone backwards this season and that does make the league less appealing to follow.

BTW Isaac, the NBL are hamstrung by being short-staffed, which generally leaves the incumbents struggling to cope with workload. Hopefully at the end of this year they invest their money in getting a quantity of quality people to run the league professionally.

I have spoken on Hoops of many reasons why I have been losing interest in the NBL, over the years. This year though, has been the first season where I have genuinely lost all interest. I, for now, am done with it.

I have zero interest in "my team" (Sixers - I was a season ticket holder for pretty much all of the 90s and early 2000s) as I feel I have no link to the team. I really don't feel it is a team representative of Adelaide anymore. What that means, I'm not sure. It may be just me. I can't explain that "feeling" but it is there for me. Not sure if anyone else feels that way?

It's also my first season subscribed to League Pass. I get my fix of 'ball anytime I want, and I'm loving it. Have no idea why I didn't do it sooner.

A lot of the same issues bug me, that bug others. Too few teams/seemingly endless same matchups.

Teams have no identity. Where are the Gaze/Copes/Bradtke Tigers, the Heal Kings, the Maher/Davis Sixers, the Rucker or Woodberry Bullets etc? Only Perth with Martin and maybe NZ with Vukona have some sort of "player identity". I think sporting leagues need that. The NBA has it in spades. The AFL as well, as do the big clubs in Euro football. If I walk around Adelaide and ask the general public to name a Sixers player today, I guarantee that a very very small number of people will name a current player, and I wouldn't be surprised if a big number name Maher or Davis.

The commentary and broadcast just smack of being half-assed.

The NBL website and looking up boxscores is such a crap experience, I rarely bother. And I am a "stat freak" and still can't be bothered.

I used to argue against tearing it all down and starting over, but now I think maybe it might just be the way to go. I'm not sure what way it should go, but it ain't gonna work the direction it's headed.

I'd almost take making the State Leagues better, and then having a national rankings system, and then a national tourney at the end of the State League seasons, instead of what we have now. I know I'd be more into that than what we have now.

Next year is the year in which the NBL can 'rebrand' itself in a way because most of the BA contracts expire and there will be a new team in Brisbane.

Hopefully the NBL actually puts in an effort to promote the game and we get a half decent TV deal.

In answer to someone above......."do we need a professional league in australia?"

Not as constructed no.

Nobody watches the NBl. Nobody.

Like other posters I think that it would be better served as a beefed up state league with a tourney or some such.

Let's face it , top australian players will head to the u.s college system as first port of call. From there if they are elite they will head to the NBA. Second tier goes to one of many euro leagues. Third or fourth or fifth tier prob go to China or somew where

Nbl will never get back to the respected league it once was. We have miss weed the boat.

Nbl should be busting it's back to have some sort of affiliation with the NBA asd a type of d league

.

"Nobody watches the NBl. Nobody."

It is one of the most attended basketball leagues in the world.

"Let's face it , top australian players will head to the u.s college system as first port of call. From there if they are elite they will head to the NBA. Second tier goes to one of many euro leagues. Third or fourth or fifth tier prob go to China or somew where "

We have seven players in the NBA and eight quality players in Europe. Pretty much the rest are here, which is a reasonably high rate by world standards.

The main issues are about marketing and television.

I am a Kiwi so don't understand the ins and outs of the Australian sport broadcasting landscape.

But from my viewing, I don't see 1) how people can hate on One for their coverage of the league and 2) how people can expect a better TV deal.

The way i see it, the viewing numbers and overall interest in the league doesn't warrant a better TV deal.

I for one am not going to sit back and criticise One or any TV broadcaster for that matter for the unfavourable TV deal. The NBL should stand up and take responsibility. They"ll argue "we're doing everything we can"..wrong. The BC shouldn't be made the scapegoat IMO.

MACDUB, if you were in Australia you would know why Ten/ONE's coverage gets canned, it's been amateur since Day 1 and has got the audience it deserves.

Without any effort put into producing a quality product and cross-promoting that product you won't get a return.

The TV product is the biggest of the NBL's problems, it is their chief marketing arm and the past five years it's probably been more of a negative than a positive.

It doesn't require a big marketing campaign, just a broadcaster interested in making it a win-win, which Ten wasn't from very early on.

Ten have, in fact, seemed to have gone out of their way to devalue the NBL on several occasions.

But Paul, while you blame channel 10 for lack of effort /interest - wasn't there a signed contract in place that this year (year 5 of the deal) that would have had minimum 4 games LIVE on FTA per week? Yet the powers that be at the NBL decided in their wisdom to simply bend over and accept channel 10 wanting to renegotiate to a 'deal' that basically gave it to the NBL up the arse - that's not channel 10's fault that's our sports fault for not standing up for their contract.

Sure the risk was channel 10 walked away from said signed deal and said sue us, to which there would have no doubt be some sort of settlement - then the NBL could have moved on to somewhere else.

Or the NBL could just bend over and take it and then bleat about how they are waiting for the current deals to finish so they can move on. Enough already, as per Isaacs list, simple things are easy to do IF you want to! It's time we had someone in charge to actually make stuff happen rather than look for excuses and bleat about how things will be 'better next year'

The way we are going 'next year' may never come!

The people talking about waiting out the current deal aren't the ones that renegotiated.

The renegotiation got them the Sunday afternoon game on Ten and a Friday game at 9.30, which can go live from Perth. The alternative was no games on Ten, and no games before 10.30pm. The initial deal said nothing about games being live.

It's never the current people fault - that's basically my point! Time for someone to take responsibility and make it happen rather than blame the past and say it will be better in the future!

Min 4 games a week would be better IMO than the crap we have now - I haven't had access to a live game in FTA all season!

Found this quote from LC from when the channel 10/One deal was logically announced......

"Live coverage of the NBL will grow over the term of the agreement, starting with a minimum of two live games a week on either ONE or TEN in 20010/11 and increasing to five games per round in the final year of the contract."


Seems it was 5 games and live as well!

"Min 4 games a week would be better IMO than the crap we have now - I haven't had access to a live game in FTA all season!"
There wouldn't be any live games under the previous deal either, and they'd be buried in the middle of the night on a digital channel nobody watches.

There was never a guarantee of live games, they were always "live or near live", where "near live" means "delayed by no more than three hours in the eastern states". That's how Ten got away with putting games on at 10.30 in the first place.

Correct. There are plenty of things you can point out about the new admin but they had no say over this. They will be judged by what comes next.

BA also shouldn't be canned too much for this, the season before they took over there was one game a week on Pay TV from memory, and the number of people exposed to the NBL has multiplied several times because of the deal with Ten, imperfect though it may be.

If we get a deal with Fox Sports showing 3 games a week live we will be lucky.

How are the school holidays going? This bit about the new admin from two posts ago probably answers your question:

"They will be judged by what comes next."

This should of been the season to be more engaged. With Childress,Wilbekin arriving, and Jackson back,I'm sure we all began the year hoping to see a cracker season.
There are two issues to address.
1. The fan attending the games.
2. The fan wanting to watch on TV and keep up to date via the web.

The first issue(and I believe a big one at that)is the fixture. Firstly for fairness to the teams,when they hit a rough form patch,is it fair they play NZ or Perth 3 times in 3 weeks? Does the average fan want to shell out to see the same team 7-8 days later? Secondly, you are in and out in under two hours this season.Is that value for money?

Re TV unless you are a tragic,no one waits up until after midnight to watch NBL. The website is Australia's worst sporting site by far. I think the Swan Hill chess playing association has more stats and info!!

More imports is not the answer BTW.
TV wise, the most I ever watched was when Fox had it,coupled with every Breakers game on Thursday's.
We need all our teams keeping afloat and the fans to hang in there.
Look at Brisbane..They lost interest and the NBL couldnt get them interested again for years.How many Bris viewers has the game lost during that period? And how many will return,in the flesh or via TV?

233 people just googled Swan Hill Chess

'341, I thanked them and they acknowledged. Definitely related, and good on them for responding.

The NBL have been doing a few gifs this season, which is a start, but they need to be pumping them out next season if they want to make a splash.

Small glimmer of hope for the naysayers

Do they go on Instagram? NBA do that and seems like it would be a good fit.

"It doesn't require a big marketing campaign, just a broadcaster interested in making it a win-win"

This.

Right now there are a ridiculous number of ads on, for shows I will never watch, that won't even screen for another 6 months.
Promoting their OWN telecasts should be a no-brainer for Ten. As you said, its a win-win. More people watching means better ratings and more revenue, and more people watching is obviously better for the NBL.

What I cannot understand is why, having expended the money to film and produce the telecast, Ten then leaves it so late so they can screen repeats of "Cops"?

Do they go on Instagram? NBA do that and seems like it would be a good fit.

Channel Ten has never been particularly inspired to promote the NBL. However, can they be blamed? The game is ugly. The courts are ugly. The ratings are poor. You can't even argue that the product on court is worthy this year. Last year.. maybe. I don't blame channel ten for not trying. Those expecting a better TV deal are out of their mind. Until the league does the simple things to help themselves out, they shouldn't expect outsiders and broadcasters to care. For the rest of this season, I certainly don't care. And unless Daniels makes the NBA, I don't think our import standard will continue like it has.

Some forget that while Ch10 bought the rights, it was about One being a sports based digital channel play. That changed, according to the conspiracy theorists here, because of a defensive play by Murdoch Jnr and Packer, but in reality, probably because it just didn't work. One was being out-rated pretty much 2:1 by the other digital channels when they killed the sports strategy.

Channel 10 in the time since time hasn't wanted to be a destination for second tier sports in prime time. It wanted that for One.

It's lack of motivation now, its preparedness to change the deal, whatever, stem more from a dead strategy than anything else.

There is a lot of chicken and egg argument here - it doesn't get promoted because it doesn't rate, and of course it doesn't rate because it doesn't get promoted.

FTA major channels focus their promotion on their next expect prime time hit or success play, on their credibility as a news network, not on marginal programming in poorly rated slots.

It takes remarkable programming to get TV channels to promote content in poor slots...

"FTA major channels focus their promotion on their next expect prime time hit or success play, on their credibility as a news network, not on marginal programming in poorly rated slots."

Yet 10 (11) are aggressively promoting their new tattoo shows and various other garbage.

My only real gripe with the telecasts is that they seem to screen Perth's home games (that I have just been to) more often than our away. But I guess that's just a function of demographics and target audiences.

I'd be interested to know how many people actually watch basketball on TV? The problem is that even an "average" rating show gets a few hundred thousand viewers. (Top rating shows can be over 2M.) So whilst I know that The Wildcats have a "lot" of dedicated fans, I don't really know how that translates to TV viewing.
Furthermore, whilst we know that the Cats get more bums on seats than other teams, does that hold true for TV viewing, or might the reciprocal be true?

It's not even about throwing out tons of ads for it. The Project did a story last year on the sick kid who went on a road trip to Townsville with the Tigers, and never mentioned that the NBL was on the same channel.

A lot of people here just don't understand the difference between major promotion and simply producing a competent, interesting broadcast and giving it modest cross-promotion.

Having said that, a deal with Ten broadcasting one or two games next season and Fox showing some (or in an ideal world, all) others would be a great result.

To get something like that the NBL may have to go down the ANZ Netball route of getting a sponsor on board to foot some of the bill in return for widespread exposure because the league probably isn't in demand at the moment.

But if they can do that and put a decent product together they might actually be able to attract some $$ the next time around.

While the A-League has a fairly healthy balance sheet and revenues are improving, it is a competition still run by its governing body who also run (domestically) a national Cup, national youth league, national women's league and a national 2nd tier play-off series and an annual All Stars game (not to mention 9 national teams). My point is they have sooooooo much more to cover and they do it well. What I find interesting is that for each of these domestic competitions there is a 'standard suite' of social/online coverage. The key seems to be using Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Vine accounts for each, cross referencing each other and their integrated device responsive web and apps - all run centrally. While some clubs do a better job than others of club produced video, no club has a bad app/web presence as all the important basics are centrally delivered. The NBL would do well to take back theo heart of the online efforts from clubs and do it once and do it right. It's a no brainer.

I would love to see Neil interviewed by 60 Minutes, so he can tell it like it is.

I would love to see teams encouraged to play offensive basketball and not be so defensive just to get the W, how can we do this is the question?

The answer could be to give a bonus ladder point for reaching 100 pts in a game, regardless of the result (not just for the winning team, gives incentive to losing team too)...

I would love to see full 12 minute quarters and replays of exciting plays, dunks and crucial moments in a game. (But I know this can't happen because we are not able to dictate terms).

I would like to see us join with the NBA, somehow, someway, to learn from them and inspire the league.

I would like to see the NBL come together and be run by the head, not the tails, pool resources and funding to support the competition as a whole.

I would like to see the NBL take a step backwards to take two forward, not take one forward, then two backwards!

"I would love to see teams encouraged to play offensive basketball and not be so defensive just to get the W, how can we do this is the question?"

There aren't many more offensive-minded pro leagues in the world than the NBL, which far more often than not has a higher scoring rate than the NBA.