Haz
Years ago

Kings have a chance to reinvent themselves at SSC

I think the Sydney Kings have a chance to reinvent themselves at the smaller SSC. So far the games played there have had good turnouts and the atmosphere watching on TV looks pretty decent.

With a smaller venue comes its obvious challenges and restrictions, but it also allows a club that is down and out in the league and in their city to rebuild and make watching basketball fun again.

The Kings can try their hand at getting the crowd to wear gold every game (like the Red Army effect in Perth, which started at Challenge Stadium).

In a smaller stadium the can work on creating a fanatical fan base which hopefully attracts new fans. Make the night out memorable and worth the trip out to Homebush, which I believe is a fairly unpopular area for Sydney. Forget the surrounds, concentrate on making the game a better experience.

I like what I've seen so far. They keep going and the place will be a fortress.

Topic #38783 | Report this topic

Indominous-Rex
Years ago

How did Perth get their fans to wear red shirts? Like all of them

Reply #572763 | Report this post

AngusH
Years ago

I expected Sydney Spirit like crowds but have been very pleasantly surprised. Atmosphere is 100x better. I think Homebush isn't considered as far away now as it was last time it hosted an NBL team. Express trains to Lidcombe definitely helps.

Reply #572788 | Report this post

Baller#3
Years ago

They still need a slightly bigger stadium. I think all capital city markets should really be able to sell out 7,000 seats every game. Still it definitely looks better then a 1/3 full kingdome

Reply #572789 | Report this post

Anonymous
Years ago

People forget there is a huge population in the West of Sydney.

Reply #572793 | Report this post

Anonymous
Years ago

Yeah and all those trains from the eastern burbs.

Reply #572795 | Report this post

D4444
Years ago

Like AngusH, I was expecting much smaller crowds at SSC games. Maybe not as small as Spirit games but certainly not near capacity crowds.

The size of the population of western Sydney has never been the issue in getting crowds to Homebush. I live much further west & much preferred to travel the extra distance into the city for games. The EntCent was a popular venue due to its proximity to restaurants, bars & other facilities in addition to being better serviced by public transport. It made attending an NBL game a day/night out. For mid-week games there was also the added convenience for people who work in the city being able to get to the EntCent without having to make an additional trip in the peak-hour chaos.

Reply #572806 | Report this post

Anonymous
Years ago

Ahh the days of 900 people at a Spirit game.

Reply #572821 | Report this post

Bear
Years ago

Is it out of the question to use both, depending on the game being a block buster or not?

Don't the Breakers have two venues...?

Just a thought, not based on any knowledge of the area or how basketball in NSW is best served by the NBL...

Reply #572825 | Report this post

Haz
Years ago

"How did Perth get their fans to wear red shirts? Like all of them"

Probably a number of experiments and gradually over time the concept caught on. I remember Vlahov once said that you have to wear red otherwise you won't be allowed in!

Court announcer, Lachie Reid also drummed in the message at every home game. Plus red shirts were provided to members. Advertising of the games also had a lot of "wear red" messaging with it.

The Cats also have a history of not wanting to sell any merchandise unless its red, so that probably helps too.

Reply #572837 | Report this post

AngusH
Years ago

Entertainment Centre is being knocked down (as we speak), so it doesn't make a practical venue...

The Entertainment Centre is being replaced by a theatre - because, you know, we only had 3 others within walking distance - and with a stage on one side and audience on the other it doesn't exactly make a good fit for basketball.

TBH, I'm happy with Homebush though. Helps that it's 10 mins from my house, sure. ;)

As for the population in West Sydney - yeah, it's big, and a lot of them like basketball, too. They just don't like or pay any attention to the NBL, from what I've seen.

Reply #572865 | Report this post

Anonymous
Years ago

That's exactly why they never embraced the Razors / Spirit. 3000 people won't help the Kings in any way.

Reply #572895 | Report this post

Hoops

Kings have a chance to reinvent themselves at SSC

Recent Posts