This is an opportune time to cut and paste an article that came out today about the NBL's position in summer sports:


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"The NBL is Australia's new national summer sport king.
The ugly scenes that marred the weekend’s A-League action, coupled with cricket’s floundering crowds and dwindling TV ratings have opened the door for basketball.
And, while it’s still early doors, the sport is flourishing, with the NBL’s fanbase growing by 130,000 since January 2021, according to a recent Neilsen sports profiling report. In that same period, the A-League’s support declined by 400,000 and the sport has shot itself in the foot by selling its grand final to the highest bidder in a move that blindsided fans.
It led to crowds at the weekend walking out of games all over the country in protest and a disgraceful pitch invasion in Melbourne that ended with a sickening attack on City goalkeeper Tom Glover, who was left with a deep gash to his face.
Nearly 400,000 people have attended NBL games to round nine, a 30 per cent jump on last season’s average attendance, and more than 960,000 fans are projected to go through a gate this season. This would be the most since Larry Kestelman assumed a majority stake in the league in 2014-15 making basketball one of the only major sports - including the AFL and NRL – to rebound and exceed pre-Covid attendance.
As the NBL experiences a 42 per cent jump in broadcast and streaming audiences on last season, the A-leagues have been shunted off Ten’s main channel, while cricket’s free-to-air viewership is so bad that Seven has launched legal action in a bid to get out of its current broadcasting deal.
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The Big Bash is on life support with too many games and international players flying in and out during the season. Marquee teams Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars opened the season in front of just 6000 fans. Three nights later, the Thunder were bowled out for a T20 record-low score of just 15. Did anyone bother watching the Windies’ embarrassing effort against the Aussies in this month’s Test series?
Sydney Kings have smashed their membership record two years running, Melbourne United is closing in on their record, Adelaide 36ers set a new high attendance mark at Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Tasmania’s home games are almost always full houses, South East Melbourne’s membership is 30 per cent up and Perth packs its stadium on the regular.
The NBL has made a concerted effort to market to families and an added emphasis on entertainment.
The Australian Open owns two weeks of summer but the NBL is winning the hearts and minds of the nation’s sporting public."

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While the NBLs metrics are only being compared to themselves, it is impressive and important to note the consistent growth of the league in all facets. The NBL obviously isn't as big as the A League, but it would present a cheaper option for broadcasters and potentially more bang-for-buck.

A 42 percent increase in viewers and streaming is very promising but it's best to realize that the base number for that is relatively low. From memory the NBL averages around 60'000 viewers a week on FTA, so 42 percent on that would bump it to about 80'000 give or take. Still pretty modest but much less modest than the days when it was lucky to get 5'000 viewers a game on Fox Sports.

Good points raised here.

Add to these, the Test match that finished today in less than two days - if a channel has allowed for five days for showing a game, what do they do for the next three days?

At least with basketball you know the game can only go longer, never shorter.

All good news. Roll on basketball and the nbl. Hopefully all plays out.

This all sounds very positive but it is exactly the opposite of what Jacket has been saying. You are throwing out facts and data without taking into account the most important element, which is Jacket's opinion.

Wellity wellity wellity.

I've been saying for years that Big Bash and A-League, even though I'm a football fan who tried to follow it, are boring products that no one really cares about but were inflated by the media in a 'fake it or make it' campaign.

The chickens are finally coming to roost.

A-League has a long way to get back now after that debacle and they would've been banking on the world cup to ride a wave too.

The Big bash happens way too often, couple that with the game the other night where a team got out for 15 and the poor test crowds and the NBL has every right to be hopeful.

Only thing is, the NBL is succeeding at the expense of these sports due to their own shortcomings, not necessarily the NBL doing anything special.

In that case it's probably time to give these other sports that are shooting themselves in the foot less of the broadcasting pie and give the NBL more and let it flourish.

Soccer has had a good enough run and cricket is massively over exposed. Hopefully the networks can see they aren't as strong or popular as they thought.

Only thing is, the NBL is succeeding at the expense of these sports due to their own shortcomings, not necessarily the NBL doing anything special.

They have always had short comings, you had to watch cricket or sleep through it as there was nothing else, the internet streaming has given these sports competition which has been great.

There's a percepion here that the NBL is 'doing a Bradbury' and rising up because everything else is failing miserably and it isnt that simple. The NBL has been chipping away at this from the moment Larry took over, and this has been a slow, steady rise to relevance. Every year the NBL has improved and found new ways to innovate and grow. The NBL is doing something special in the sense it is outperforming many of these league in its ability to grow and adapt.

^^^no doubt Me, Larry has fantastic.

It's still very helpful that we have streaming services now as well.

Also from a broadcaster standpoint its becoming a more attractive proposition. Already it has a 45 million dollar deal - peanuts to be sure, but the NBL used to have to pay for air time at one point. And if you look at ratings, the league is providing bang for buck. If you pay 1/10th of the price for something giving you 1/4th of the audience, you're winning. The NBL also has more room to grow than A League and Cricket, which are both well entrenched, known quanities. I see the NBL doing okay for itself with its next broadcast deal.

I hope the NBL go with 7/Foxtel. I use Foxtel and all the nbl games I need are on Foxtel.

Foxtel is basically Kayo but not streamed. I hate streaming since there's more issues with the internet, lagging issues and it’s so far behind compared to cabled tv.

7 would be silly not to make a deal with the NBL. Most talk I hear from the NBL is positive talk and a family friendly environment. A-League is down a massive hole, I never feel safe when I’m sitting behind the goals. First time was terrible with beer going everywhere, A-League is a waste of time and money. Players they get don’t deserve dear ticket prices to go watch.

Money in the long run is wrecking all sports together. Ridiculous how much players get paid, food prices and high ticket pricing. How many players actually give back to the grassroots who actually need the money. It’s trash what some players waste their money on nowadays.

Stay with ESPN as it's on Foxtel, Kayo and Fetch, and get the best FTA offer in terms of coverage rather than cash.

LOL
Its not very hard to have a 42% increase when you are starting off an extremely low base.
Most of that increase would be from Kayo which has exploded in subscription numbers due to its low cost entry.
The numbers are still horrific on Foxtel.

No one has Foxtel anymore. They got nothing.

Foxtel is basically Kayo but not streamed. I hate streaming since there's more issues with the internet, lagging issues and it's so far behind compared to cabled tv.

Foxtel uses satellite as an option if you don't care for their streaming version of Foxtel (Foxtel Now?)

Foxtel is basically irrelevant now. I am not worried about what their numbers on Foxtel are. FTA and streaming is where it is at.

Foxtel uses satellite as an option if you don't care for their streaming version of Foxtel (Foxtel Now?)

Basically, Foxtel realised they weren't going to put satellite dishes on all their cable subscribers houses before the NBN shuts them off in June next year (whether possible or not), so now they've got iQs that can stream channels instead of using satellite (or cable).

Foxtel Now still exists but I think they've moved focus to Kayo/Binge.

Anyway, if we could get night games on 7mate (or 7 if we can dream), maybe concentrated around the Christmas/January period (which they might want to compete with the BBL/tennis and away from the AFLW and horse racing as they now continue through November) that'd be ideal.

Although it might be a problem if we're no longer bundled in with cricket over summer as Kayo might lose subscribers meaning less casuals looking at the league (would be the only league on Foxtel in prime time though, which might be a benefit).

I'd love to see the NBL back on 7. Although the sceptic in me says they aren't interested and haven't looked like being interested since they did local coverage in the late 90s. I think they are too entrenched in building up the AFLW and turning that into something as well as horse racing and cricket (if they keep it), than looking at the basketball as an option.

As for FTA, I really don't care who covers it anymore as long as they consider a Friday or Saturday night broadcast. I really can't get into Sunday noon games during summer.

I've always stuck with Foxtel because of the quality advantage it has over streaming, but with the impending move to streaming for the Foxtel signal as well, I finally cut the cord and went with Kayo.

I'd be wary of a streaming deal outside of Kayo, TBH. NBL1 streams are pretty average, and 9Now's streams are absolute garbage. Sports really needs that extra bitrate, so I wouldn't want to be stuck on a service that doesn't have the capability.

The best example of how sports streaming is an epic fail in Australia was the 2018 World Cup when Optus Sport had to hand back exclusive games to SBS because of the constant buffering customers were experiencing, even though they knew there were issues years earlier beginning with Premier League coverage which I believe is still an issue.

I recently cut the cord after two decades, even though satellite transmission isn't going away anytime soon (unlike cable), since it wasn't worth paying Foxtel for the amount of junk you're forced to subsidise now on their sports package and that's despite being on a discounted rate for threatening to cancel once each contract term was expiring.

I'm currently with Fetch TV as one of their channel packs has ESPN and ESPN2 for $6/month (first month free and no contract) and their set top box does a great job of optimising and rendering streams, even the abortion that is Optus Sport mentioned above.

Although tonight an e-mail arrived offering me Kayo for $5/month so I'll go back and try it out for a while to compare with Fetch.

Now that traditional broadcast methods are going out the window the NBL finally will air a live Sunday night game on FTA which used to be the most coveted timeslot of all.

Ratings are only a part of the story.

It's about the demographics, other feedback too.

I get updates from the NBL via text and social media. I enter some of the MG competitions, knowing that I won’t win but it helps a sponsor feel good.

A certain bank sponsors junior AFL. When I was coaching, there was a $200 donation to the club for any new home loan if you mentioned the club.

Cricket clubs can sell tickets to win a Toyota.

The cheeseburger giveaway is just cheesy and embarrassing for sure, but do they keep data on sales after a giveaway night? Would local shift managers and franchisees give (at least) anecdotal evidence about customers mentioning the sponsorship deal?

Google reviews (and product review.com.au for us fossils) do impact corporate behaviour (I hope).

Feedback is a 2 edged sword. Large corporation don’t like public questioning, or bad reviews that are factual, not just opinions.

The NBL stopped focusing only on the official TV ratings a number of years ago. What they are about is viewers of content across multiple platforms (particularly the News/Fox/Kayo combined platform in Aus).

So far this summer, basketball is the second-most viewed sport on Kayo behind cricket, with the NBL providing the most basketball content. This is a key to maintaining and/or increasing the value of the broadcast deal.

"The cheeseburger giveaway is just cheesy and embarrassing for sure, but do they keep data on sales after a giveaway night? "

They would. There would be a net benefit for Hungry Jacks or they'd stop doing it. For every free cheeseburger worth $2 there is probably an extra meal being bought by the same family. I wouldnt complain about this giveaway. Anything that gets the crowd involved I am all for.

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I think what people don't take into consideration is the NBL on ESPN gives it a bit of legitimacy that it previously didn't have. When it was stuck on Fox Sports 1 or whatever being virtually hidden people didn't see or hear about it. Now you have young people watching NBA or NFL during the day, and whether consciously they're leaving the channel on to check out the game later on or maybe just accidentally leaving it on and coming back across it later, it gives it more eyeballs.

To call the Hungry Jacks promo cringy or cheesy is interesting. I think it's a really fun and easy promotion that really gets the young section of the crowd involved every time there's FTs.

It's in the best place it currently could be I think, maybe if the FTA part of the deal could be on a more prominent channel it would be better. 7mate like someone else suggested for example, with the occasional game on the main channel. But to have the legitimacy of ESPN, combined with it always receiving coverage with no questions asked due to the games being on at times when they'd only otherwise be showing replays, it's great.

The commentary teams and not sending them to games though, that's a different story.

I believe the league is going from strength to strength. Hopefully in a few years they can draw Baynes and Mills for a few seasons and take it even further.

combined with it always receiving coverage with no questions asked due to the games being on at times when they'd only otherwise be showing replays, it's great

The commentary teams and not sending them to games though, that's a different story.

To call the Hungry Jacks promo cringy or cheesy is interesting. I think it's a really fun and easy promotion that really gets the young section of the crowd involved every time there's FTs.

Plus the United, Hawks game was 30 minutes late because of the double overtime. Annoying since my recording with the extra 30 minutes recorded didn't record the last quarter.

Lucky Foxtel has the streaming option for all past NBL games. They are losing many rights. Heard they can even show the Simpsons, crazy how life is becoming so complicated.

World keeps going down hill sadly.

World keeps going down hill sadly.

I actually saw someone on Twitter last year say that the NBL must be really upset that crowds like Adelaide keep chanting the name of one of their sponsors, and that the league would likely pull the promotion to stop it happening. Just the dumbest take ever.

Lel Adelaide fans do the NBL a solid with the cult fanaticism to free cheese burgers!

Nine secured Olympics til 2032 which is interesting. How much money in the pot is there for Nine/Stan to provide a competition to ESPN for the NBL? Regardless of the NBL wanting to continue with ESPN, they will want competition to drive up the price.

Cricket continues to be a bit of a shit show - 7 only wants tests and no big bash, CA don't trust 7 anyway. Nine haven’t put a formal bid in but are trying to stir up competition. But Nine have tennis, so that’s at least a third if not more of the cricket/big bash season resigned to a second or third channel. Plus they want Stan to stream some and that isn’t kosher with Fox.

7 retaliates to Fox sounding out Nine by hitting up Paramount. 10 and Paramount put up the leading bid but like the AFL, Cricket Oz are scared about how bad the streaming service might be and 10s low low low ratings.

We might end up seeing some sort of scenario where 7 gets tests like they wanted, 10 gets the big bash that they can prove they are capable of doing sport properly and lift their ratings, Fox retains their usual cricket channel showing everything.

Someone above mentioned the uneasy feeling about 7 and NBL since they haven’t really shown the slightest interest in yonks. I completely agree - realistically you need a network that will invest and place confidence otherwise they’ll be risk averse and quickly ditch the NBL to a secondary channel or late night or just bail from the contract. Which is funny because the bipolar relationship with 10 essentially did those things and yet feels a better option?

Only thing is, A-League for all its overrated place in the summer sport world, is clearly a better target over the NBL. That’s shown from the money it has commanded.

And yet, it has been ditched after one year to a secondary channel as part of the supposed "investment" into growing the and supporting the league.

NBL is on the third string channel, what hope does it have for a main network coverage these days?

It looks like these mid-tier sports are destined for subscription streaming because they have enough cult following/niche market size to attract decent surge in subscriptions but it’s not enough to attract a TV audience over a movie or tv show replay.

The free to air part for ALeague probably drew soccer to it for the benefit of paramount and for NBL it is probably a matter of incredibly low cost to show it since ESPN or NBL or whatever produces/pays for production and it’s on a third channel requiring a low-audience base. Plus it would go to whatever local tv requirement is there for a network licence.

So with Olympics tied up, Cricket is what’s left and struggling to meet their Christmas deadline and NBL will be watching for how it fleshes out their opportunities.

One thing I’d love to see is a popup ESPN Basketball channel from Nov-Feb like they’ve done for WWE etc.

They have so much bball content there really isn’t a reason not to do it!

Be great if ESPN could make a new channel and they just show basketball content. There's so many games and media shows to make it work.

So Cricket expected to return to 7/Fox, only change is 7plus get to stream 7 covered games and a reduction in the big bash league from 14 games to 10 games for each team which will hopefully deliver more interest in the league if you're a cricket fan albeit means less content for Fox.