Heisenberg
Years ago
Do people think professional teams (particularly NBL) can successfully be shared between two locations?
Tassie will be playing across two cities and no doubt the Hawks will be an East Coast team going forward playing perhaps half games in Newcastle.
Post COVID could a SEQ team exist where games are split between Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast?
D2.0
Years ago
Tasmanian has to work, because it has to.
It is a "Tasmanian" team, ie representing the whole of the state, and Tasmania is unique is having two large (and "almost equal") populations centres.
First thing is that it needs to tap into a common "Identity" ie that of the State.
So you've got to find that common identity.
I THINK northern Queensland might have something.
I don't think combining Illawarra and Hunter would work, as I feel they have separate, perhaps competing, identities
Illawarra and Canberra could work, United should play some games out of Ballarat and Bendigo.
Sourbroker
Years ago
NZ should trial Canberra if the circumstances provide for it - then the nbl can finally stop pushing the idea of a team there...
BALLER#3
Years ago
Love both the idea of Far North Queensland and Illawarra/Canberra sharing a team each. All four are fringe markets and I think sharing can only help.
Giacontigers
Years ago
Yeah I always find it disgraceful that The Hawks will play games in the Hunter Valley. Newcastle Falcons were rivals with the Illawarra Hawks. I sorta hope this experiment fails for the NBL.
#bringbackillawarrahawks
Read the writing on the wall Illawarra. You'd better pack out the crowd or sayonara. You've already lost your name, there's a reason for that.......
Hawks combined with Canberra, southern hawks
Cairns with townsville northern taipans.
Newcastle needs it's own side, so too Wellington.
Ask Cairns how much they like Townsville.
These teams will always be seen by the population of that state to be leaning towards one town.
Still need a base of operations in one city. Players need to live and train somewhere.
You could play a few home games away from the city you;re based in but not much beyond that.
Launceston / Hobart going to be a big challenge.
Cairns and Townsville forget it - the distance is crazy.
Illawarra and Canberra is do-able.
Let's be real for a second here. The Hawks will go bust, fans wouldn't even turn up for Lamelo. Canberra/Tasmania won't work and has already failed what's different now? Almost every market in Australia has been tapped at some point since the NBL started and realistically only a handful of teams have ever thrived supporter wise as owning an NBL franchise is definitely a passion project not a financial reward. What makes everyone seem to think that expanding the league is the answer? Not only now are we faced with diluting an already thin talent pool of local players but we have Covid 19 now as another reason for fans to not support their teams as the economic impacts are yet to be truly felt.
The product has never been better so what's the issue? It’s not a league run by Basketball Australia anymore as the Australian elite male competition. It’s now a business. For some a very big business.
D2.0
Years ago
Sorry, I also meant to add that the logistics must be feasible.
AND "relocating" a team with an existing identity is difficult.
I don't know, but I THINK people in FNQ feel a bit like a separate region. So the CONCEPT of a FNQ team (in some other sport) might get popular support.
But the logistics would be a killer.
And yeah, I don't see Townsville being too quick to support their rivals.
The level of product is worse than it was 10/20 years ago.
It's a business so small markets don’t work.
Hawks are moving to Sydney the minute the kinds exclusive in that city is finished
So if a team has 2 home courts in 2 cities, the players would have to be based in one of them for logistics such as training. So they would have to travel to their 2nd home, basically having 3/4s of their games away from home. Pretty sure the second city wouldn't get behind a team if they're based elsewhere. So if Cairns decide to pair up with Townsville for example, Townsvillains(?) would still view them as outsiders and Cairns would have extra costs in travel and accommodation for no real advantage.
Nostraballmus
Years ago
Nostraballmus can't believe this crazy talk.
He's seen team in two cities not work. It's a nice idea, a novelty, but adds nothing to the business case. It's not like you sell out two stadiums instead of one, or get two sets of sponsors blah blah blah. Its the same number of games etc. If anything you just disenfranchise two groups of supporters and sponsors.
Nostaballmus says, the sooner 'smaller' code teams combine to create 'super clubs' with A-League, NBL, Netball divsvions etc , the better. This creates efficiencies and sponsor value within their markets across the entire sporting year and supporter feed.
Nostraballmus know sit makes sense.
The Nostraballmus routine is just talking about yourself in third person now?
Joe
Years ago
If I was making decision for the NBL I wouldn't be expanding. Look at the history of teams it has lost due to money issues etc. It’s a way better product when there’s less teams.
Anonymous feels Nostraballmus is making loads of sense.
For example Collingwood has the mens AFL team, Women's AFL team and a netball team at the moment. It gave the latter two instant supporters and brand recognition whilst also giving those teams the facilities and staff to share with the mens side thus saving on its own setup and running costs. It's a great idea. Not 100% sure how to merge AFL and basketball though given AFL loves to recruit ball talent.
Having said that I'd love to hear more about Pendlebury's basketball background
D2.0
Years ago
"Tasmania" is the only real hope of this working, and it will be a challenge.
I think that perhaps at some point in the future, the Taipans might be able to grow their "support" across the region. But its a big leap from that to location splitting.
If you get wider "support" and those people want to watch you on tv, maybe buy some merchandise, or even a form of membership, then that's a bonus. But taking a game on the road means you incur extra costs and lose the revenue from your home. So the new venue has to overcome that before you even start to think about a profit.
Not everyone can afford a full season membership, so there is something to be gained there, but you really need substantially equal support.
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