Can you please copy and paste the article?

The link wants me to sign up and pay to read it, which I don't want to do

IMO, he wouldn't be speaking about it publicly unless they were looking to cushion the blow of removing Townsville. Seems like a dangerous thing to discuss off the cuff. Then again, they might not have floated three imports unless they were confident of nine teams.

Short of moving half the roster to Brisbane, I'm not sure how they could kill off the Crocs without a lot of bad vibes in the media.

National Basketball League executive director Larry Kestelman believes the credibility of the league has improved markedly this season, but admits television ratings could be better.

Kestelman, an entrepreneur and owner of Melbourne United who took over the majority ownership of the NBL in an unprecedented move before the start of the current season, said the league has made good progress but that there was still room for improvement.

"We have certainly raised the standard of the product on the court, with the quality of the players we have now. So I think we have had a good year but I don't want to get caught up in the hype and do a lot of back-slapping around here. I think the perception of the league has changed to a more positive one, but there is still a lot of work to do."

In particular, Kestelman said the league needed to improve its television ratings. "I think the one thing I would really like to see is more people watching us on TV."

The NBL announced a five-year deal with Fox Sports at the beginning of the season last October, but the terms of the deal included a clause for the contract to be reviewed after the 2015-16 season ends with the grand final series after semi-finals that begin later this week.

The deal has Fox Sports covering the production costs for the telecasting of live matches four to five nights per week on the pay-television network, with one match shown on Nine Entertainment Co's Gem digital channel each Sunday. NBL matches have rarely made the list of the 20 highest-rating shows on Foxtel each week.

Kestelman said he was mostly satisfied with the growth in crowds, which has included several sellFouts for clubs in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and even Sydney, where the Sydney Kings have struggled on the court and moved home stadium halfway through the season.

FINALS WILL DRAW BIG CROWDS

Melbourne United's last match of the regular season on Sunday against the New Zealand Breakers was sold out two weeks in advance, and Kestelman said crowds for the finals series will be big.

"That match [against New Zealand] meant 10,500 people had bought tickets and 53 corporate boxes were sold two weeks before the match. People talk about the halcyon days being when the [Melbourne] Tigers played the Magic back in the 1990s, but this is one Melbourne team playing a team from interstate or overseas. So I think it is even bigger now."

The league will also be boosted by the return of the Brisbane Bullets franchise for its 2016-17 season, which will give it a much-needed presence in one of the country's biggest markets after an eight-year absence. Kestelman said the NBL hoped to sell the team and gaining a licence fee.

He also said the league would also investigate the merits of another expansion franchise in Melbourne and examine whether it had too many teams in Queensland, given the existing clubs in Cairns and Townsville. "There is a question whether three teams in Queensland is too many," Kestelman said.



Read more: http://www.afr.com/business/sport/national-basketball-league-boss-larry-kestelman-satisfied-with-crowds-but-admits-tv-ratings-need-to-improve-20160211-gmre19#ixzz40rkaCvqz
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I would have thought the question of "is 3 teams too many for Qld" would have been asked before announcing the return of a Brisbane team i.e are they replacing someone or are they another team?

These teams are geographically far enough apart so I wouldn't think they would be overlapping (marketing) territory, but if the region the represent can't support them then we do need to scale back so that each team is more likley to be supported by a whole state.

The Big Bash league which is a made for TV contest- with teams with no real history or character, but they all play a game that can appeal to a big TV audience. Its on FTA TV and is almost force fed to us over a 7- 8 week period. SA kids might support a Vic based team or what ever, doesn't matter, so long as they watch all the games on TV, not just the games that feature their own team. NBL coverage was great - if you had Foxtel.

No millionaires in Townsville to take a gamble and save em?

I have never been able to find reliable NBL ratings anywhere. Boti kept saying that ratings "mean nothing" but clearly they are of some concern to Larry Kestleman right now while trying to barter for conditions of next year's coverage.

As for Townsville, they have slowly grown over the course of the year. It won't be a good look to kick out another team. It may inevitably need to happen, but they should exhaust all options first. We really don't need another - incredibly original, not! - headline calling the NBL a "basket case".

Because the games are on Foxtel.

"Because the games are on Foxtel."

So are A League games and they rate quite well

I still think it makes way more financial sense, to have one of the north Queensland teams move to a new market or fold, and then the remaining team share home games.

Before people say, its 4 hours away, you cant just do that, etc. Do you want a team that is financially sound and performing well or a mediocre team scrapping to survive every year.

It wouldnt be hard to split home games, and the team can still be based in one place for training etc. It would make the lower number of games more special, and thus should attract higher crowds.

"Because the games are on Foxtel."

This is a conundrum. I don't understand what rates well on Foxtel and why, because I've never had it. I do have fgrgiends wqho are 36ers' season ticket holders. They had Foxtel and waqtched NBL frequently during the previous Foxtel contract.

They dropped Foxtel ~3 years ago for financial reasons. Thiose financial reasons have since gone away but they opted to get Netflix instead of Foxtel. When NBL came back to Foxtel this season they didn't see it as worthwhile just for the NBL coverage, given Netflix was giving them everything else they wanted.

I've no idea if this experience is indicative but the falling subscription rates to Foxtel, in the face of streaming media competition was pretty widely reported last year. Maybe this meant very few people were willing to sign up just to get NBL coverage. If so, NBL probably would have been competing with other sports and shows on Foxtel to pull existing Foxtel viewers. Perhaps that hasn't worked overly well?

The Brisbane thing is so fickle. Sponsored by the NBL ala the LKG and with no guarantee the NBL will be here after 2 more seasons, is there really any point?

Baller#3, every time there is talk of the Queensland teams, you say that there should be a merger because reasons, and every time someone says more reasons why it isnt a good idea.

Yes, Townsville struggle year after year but that does not mean that Cairns also have to be penalised as well by losing half of their home games.

Its a terrible idea, it doesn't make any financial sense, it wont work, please stop suggesting it. If very few people turn up to watch a Crocs game right now, they sure as hell won't turn up to watch a re-badged Cairns team play.

Simple fix try could try is use the word relocate instead of folding

I suspect this is LK softening the blow for the Crocs licence being moved to Brisbane.

It would be good to see the NBL buy their way back onto FTA TV next season (say 2-3 games a week) rather than wasting away on Foxtel.

If LK spends money setting things up and then it returns to status quo but with a better profile, where's the issue? I think they're doing a lot of things really well. Anon, you sound like you want them to fail.

Currently the agreement is for Fox to "televise ALL games." Just spit-balling here, but could it be that they want to drop some of the less popular games?
Which would presumably be Townsville's away games against lesser teams?
Perhaps they also want to drop venues, in which case the swamp would presumably be their first target.

We all know that Townsville struggles from year to year, but I don't really see that as a question of "too many Queensland teams."
Obviously teams like Townsville have to survive on a very different model to a Capital team, and obviously its tough going. But if they lose their NBL team, I don't imagine many fans would switch allegiance to Brisbane. It might be different if you killed off both existing teams, and launched an all-new "Queensland team." Or even perhaps an all-new "North Queensland" team. But as it stands, the teams, including a re-launched Bullets, would be seen as rivals.

You might as talk about "too many East-Coast teams."
IMHO the questions of whether Townsville and Brisbane can support teams are independent.

I'm sure Fox would love to drop the Townsville telecasts. Channel 10/One sure didn't like doing them during their broadcasting era.

If LK pays for Brisbane he can sell it off for more when it is up and running, Brisbane commercially so much better than Townsville and cairns.

3 Imports has been discussed for years as competition expands. Danger is financially salary cap should increase and Townsville, Cairns and Adelaide cant afford that to happen.

Coming from the Tasmanian...

every time someone suggest a 'north queensland' team, another hair falls of Phil Smyth's head...

it is literally the worst thing to be mentioned on this forum since Andrew Gaze dunked on Cecil Exum...

such short memories some people have. last time FTA had the coverage how many 'Live' games a week did we have?? 0-1 maybe, and 1 other game played at midnight! this was bull sh*t but that was an improvement on the deal before that which gave us even less if that was possible.
How foxtel can complain about the ratings is beyond me. FoxSports (FS) 1 is only rugby league, FS2 is cricket, FS3 is NBL and Super 15 later this month, FS4 obscure sports, FoxFooty is footy and FS5 is motor sport ... its the sh*t on FS4 which makes me wonder how they could ever say the NBL doesnt attract ratings. Today they showed Darts, Rodeo, Thai boxing and the Indian Hockey league. surely the NBL rates higher than those.
My money is on the NBL dropping back to what the NRL had over the last few years, 2 live games a week and all other games shown on delay/the next day.

"Today they showed Darts, Rodeo, Thai boxing and the Indian Hockey league. surely the NBL rates higher than those."

It would. The difference being Fox Sports wouldn't pay for the production costs of those sports unlike it does with every game of the NBL season, bar the NZ home games of course.

Perhaps Isaac should institute a basic English Comprehension test before people are allowed to post?

I didn't "suggest a North Queensland team."
I simply pointed out that if Townsville lose their NBL team, they are highly unlikely to swap to supporting a Cairns or Brisbane team. Hence "too many Queensland teams" is not a valid argument.

I don't know who will own Brisbane. Last year it was going to be Paul Bendat. I have no problem if it's LK, the only criteria is that they have deep pockets. Although I'd point out that MU is already as close to being "LK run" as Brissy would likely be.

Three imports would help in at least three ways:

- potentially increase the spectacle of the league
- enable teams to access quality players on a budget
- assist teams facing competition from an incoming franchise for their players

I would've once said it was more about the latter two but think LK might be more focused on crowds, TV attention and drawcard names.

Why are so many people worried about the future of Cairns... Didn't they make money the season before last and of course they made the grand final last year.... I think they are doing quite well for themselves