oops. Forgot to post teh link. Here 'tis

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-01/how-perth-wildcats-became-one-of-australias-greatest-sport-teams/10853814

Excellent achievement. Let's hope all clubs read this and apply the same model

Pretty sure Gleeson swears on the sideline every game.

Having Jack's money helped.

But they have certainly worked the Community angle HARD, and it has paid dividends. As has their fanatical anti-drugs policy. Sometimes its cost them in the short-term, but long-term they have a very wholesome image that the community respects.

You mean the turnaround where they went from half-filling that tin shed to selling out the bigger venue?

You might have cause and effect the wrong way around there.

Challenge was never half full during the Vlahov era.

Marvin will spin it that it is all down to him to enhance his CV. Standard practice from that dude.

Keep in mind that the Arena was planned for a long time before, and initially the Cats were extremely luke-warm and IIRC said no to becoming the foundation tenants. At that point it would have been a burden, too expensive, and hard to fill.

Sydney Kings won 3 rings on the trot, and went tits up. Brisbane had a great history, and failed.

As I said, Jack's money helped during that transition time, but they have maximised the benefit. Still by far the best crowds in the land, despite a population much smaller than Sydney & Melbourne.

No D2.0 the state government weren't interested in the Wildcats being tenants but Marvin et al. fought hard and negotiated and only once they debuted at Perth Arena the dumb public servants realised they had a solid anchor tenant.

Yes good point even at Challenged they were at the mercy of VenuesWest, an inept greedy leeching state government entity who didn't even clean the toilets in there properly as one section of seats could attest to. Then they made it hard for the club to be a tenant of the Arena and were happy to lose potential revenue by only having Hopman Cup as the sole sports event during the year. The level of stupidity by state government was and is amazing.

Koberulz,

Crowds are significantly improved at Adelaide Oval over the old Football Park as a result of moving closer to the city and into a much nicer stadium. Your 'average non footy' person wouldn’t have gone to football park but they do go to Adelaide Oval because it’s part of the experience it’s popular and a social attraction.

You don’t think the city stadium experience isn’t a major factor to drawing in crowds vs a tin shed?

I would suspect if 36ers were in an updated memorial drive 10k venue, I suspect Adelaide would draw higher crowds even though they don’t fill Adelaide Arena.

KET correct, but Marvin will claim he's an amazing CEO and take all the credit when in reality it was right time, right place with a city venue being built.

The Wildcats are one of the great success stories of Australian sport.

There are many reasons for that, and moving to the city in a nice stadium would help.

Community engagement is at astounding levels though- 220 school visits a year is more than one for every school day of the year. So the Wildcats are visiting a school every single day. That's pretty cool.

No, incorrect. You're missing the point. The Perth Arena was planned probably around a decade earlier. Originally it was supposed to built at the same time as the Cockroach, around 2001~2002.
The Hopman cup was still at the Dome, and the Wildcats said no, and the whole project was shelved for several years.

Around those years the Cats were selling home games to Singapore and Darwin to help make ends meet.

Undeniable fact is that Marvin and Dr Jack did institute a massive committent to Community Engagement, a big clean-up in image, and a stringent anti-drugs policy.
There was the (in)famous Scott Fisher interview in which, when asked about an import he'd cut, replied "we always knew he was a good player, we just didn't know he liked to smoke dope".

Dazz the Arena wasn't built or consulted with the Cats even though thet tried to be part of the process.

they*

Dazz is purely making stuff up about this.

The Wildcats are indeed the envy of Australian basketball (and me).

Amazing what you can do when you have an owner who believes in the brand, rather than quits on it.

Amazing what an owner can do with a brand that is independent from a junior association who everyone competed against as a youngster.

That's right, because every potential basketball fan played rep ball.