Nobody goes to game one as it is, why would they go to games two and three?

rather make the top 4 top 5 or 6

I disagree, red army always pack out finals and Melbourne United had descent Final crowds in 2018, 2019 and 2020 before all the covid restrictions were in place.

People are still concern going to events like footy and rugby. But I have noticed a lot of people are happy staying home and watching their teams on streaming services and tv. Not sure what the main reasons, could be money, effort are it's just easy for them to stay home.

Crowds will bump up eventually.

I wouldn't mind top-5 with ten teams for now. Once Darwin/West Sydney gets a team then make it top-6.

Yep agree top 5 for now (bring it in right now so the JJ's slip in!)

Top 5 and 6 systems get funky with series play in my opinion. I don't like the 1 or 2 seed sitting out for a week and a half while lower seeds keep playing. Big believer in momentum over rest.

Could maybe run a NBA play-in style 4v5 match up with the 4 seed needing one win from two games to advance, otherwise it gets too drawn out.

Yeah a play in could work. 4 vs 5 with 4 having home court. If they win they're in. If 5 wins, 4 gets another chance but 5 now get home court.

NBLTigers I think we are 5+ years away before a team in Darwin or Western Sydney

5+ and then some

Sebatians comments above sound like the scouting report on Bruno Caboclo when he was drafted. Two years away from being two years away.

Darwin just isn't getting an NBL team in anyones foreseeable future. Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves

I agree with Anstey that Darwin is not ready for a team yet

Going back to the initial post, as a keen follower of the league, I would like to see the semis go to best-of-5. To me it's always felt as though a three game series was too short.

The playoffs need to be expanded beyond four teams also. I like the common idea of 4 v 5 play-in.

Darwin spending big money to get their NBL Team that leads to their belief that they will get an NBL team.

I don't think the NBL has the quality or star power to maintain interest across multiple 5 game series. In the NBA the big players and big plays change hand from game to game with one megastar after another taking over as the chess pieces move. But I just don't think the NBL has the depth to warrant both 5 game series and 48 minute games. Certainly when teams are forced to go to their benches the standard of play drops considerably so for the league to really present itself in the best way the product needs to be compact and easily consumable. Maybe I am in the small minority here but I've mentally checked out of the NBL season and want the finals to start already. I don't care about half of the league that is no hope of making the finals and I am basically ready to watch the winner be crowned and move on from the 21/22 campaign. No doubt after a few weeks I'll miss the league but for me, this season has been one of the more yawn-inducing of recent memory. I really don't think the standard has been anywhere near as high as the hype would have you believe. Regardless I am keen for the finals but I don't want to see a situation where multiple games in the series don't actually matter. I was a fan of the old ONE grand final game idea. Sure, a team could succumb to injury, bad luck, or a freak shooting display but that was part of what made it fun. It seems like leagues these days are very much concerned with ascertaining who the best team actually is, and there's some merit to that. But as far as spectacles go I don't think you can go past ONE last do-or-die game.

Yeah it's call game 5, win or go home

Semi finals are usually among the worst attended games of the season - in Perth at least - so financially there's not great incentive to extend the semis. It's not that fans don't care, but it's easy to plan to attend a regular season game that has been on the schedule for ages, and there's more incentive to attend for those who have already paid for tickets via their memberships. With semis you often get little notice of when the game will be on.

TV-wise, most of the league's fans start to lose interest once their teams are eliminated from the comp, so I'm guessing that has a pretty significant impact on ratings.

If those sets of numbers don't justify it then I'm fine with keeping it best of 3. If one semi is a sweep and the other is a close series then the more games you have, the longer one team is sitting & waiting while the other is still battling for a spot in the GF, which isn't ideal either.

Personally looking how close the top-4 is this season I wouldn't mind best-of-5 series.

It’s hard enough thinking where each team will finish the next 4 rounds. Melbourne United could drop to Illawarra, Perth and S.E. Melbourne. They could drop all the way down to 3rd or even 4th spot?

Phoenix don’t have a bad run either. I can’t see JackJumpers making it, even with 16 wins.

Yeah nah
Unfortunately whilst we do see some cracking SFs, and even some upsets, we also see a lot walkovers. Who want to watch one of those stretched out to 3 games, especially following the H-A-H rule.

The other problem is scheduling. a 5 game series takes a lot longer, and puts a 5-game winner at a how disadvantage if their opponent won in 3.

And when it comes to a "final 5", whilst it's a nice notion, there's no practical mechanism that works