SE Melb don't fill their stadiums. Relocate them to Darwin.

But its NOT just the Melbourne teams, that's the point.
MU, SEM, Kings and Hawks would need to relocate because of the presence of covid. Wildcats would need to relocate because WA won't open its borders.
Breakers have to relocate because nobody can get in and out of NZ.
Not sure about Adelaide, but otherwise we're talking about relocating the whole league to QLD, and that's assuming hey get their outbreaks under control.
A couple of teams yes, but the league can't afford such a massive cost and loss of revenue.

Damn, I'm getting stir crazy and feeling trapped here, every now and again a visit to a real city interstate or overseas is necessary to survive this one. Not interested in intrastate travel either as it is extremely bland.

AFL are playing in Perth. It's called "Exemption". Please keep up.

Guys, rare for me to comment on a Sunday but it's the off season, and with covid19, it's a very off season.

We haven't been told anything yet but internally we're just keeping our fitness up by doing mini game scenarios and ball skills.

We suspect next season will be cancelled but we've got nothing official. We're in no rush for an import yet but once the season dates have been set we will fill our roster.

NBL said they'll give us three month notice before the season starts for recruiting purposes.

Cheers guys.

Kobe they haven't quarantined in Perth. They did that elsewhere. Hawthorn played Sydney in Sydney July 25. They then played Carlton at Optus Stadium July 31.

The AFL has been granted an exemption as follows:
AFL teams complete their games in the QLD hub, then travel to Perth.
They are quarantined except for their limited practices.
A week later they play each other in Perth. The rationale is that since they are coming from the same hub, its not a significant extra risk. This still makes the league money because the telecast into Melbourne is worth a mint.
Because most AFL teams have been around for a 100 years, they have significant fans in Perth who relish the opportunity and buy tickets
A further week later they play the Eagles and Dockers.

The WA Government has allowed this because the AFL carries weight, it is making money for WA, and WA is keen to host the AFL finals.

The NBL would struggle to carry the cost of quarantining teams in Perth.
The neutral venue game would be costly and pointless.
The NBL doesn't have the same bargaining power as AFL.

And keep in mind that for the above to work, the AFL has bubbled 14 teams in QLD. Can the NBL afford to move 4 teams to QLD? Especially with Cairns playing in the hardware store?

The NBL would struggle to carry the cost of quarantining teams in Perth.

Meanwhile Perth Glory and Western Force have been playing all their home games out of Sydney.

Hawks played in Sydney Dazz not QLD

The NBL would struggle to carry the cost of quarantining teams in Perth.

Other points stand, but would the quarantine be that outrageous if you corralled them from arrival to accommodation, venue, accomm, venue, accomm, airport? I could see it being achievable.

There are other allowances being made for workers travelling between states, in some scenarios.

Yes Dazz but you're said people had to Hub in Queensland. Hawks went straight from Sydney to Perth. So what you stated was actually what must occur because it didn't.

Please tell us Dr. Kobe.

Wonder how far back to NBL can push from a financial view point.

An NBL season would need go ahead in conditions where Australia is "on top of Covid" and then they could probably have a month of front loading home games in states with COVID “eliminated” - you'd be looking at SA, WA etc.

We were close to that ~ a month ago, and now we are in a far more devastated position. Obviously you can only control what you can control, there is no certainty so all you can do is be agile.

Crowds are so fundamental, we couldn’t have teams losing too many home games out of the situation. Financially the league and players need the season to begin it can’t keep being pushed back. To that extent we may see that combination of pushing the league further if necessary til February and then a month of games concentrated in the non hotspot states.

6 super netball teams moved to QLD for a potential season long hub... Pretty sure same lack of telecast deal, low attendance problems and no benefactor/slush fund covering costs so why can't NBL do it?