Hoops

Government Funding for Sports

I guess we think Basketball is popular in Asia , more than here.
What's it like in the Phillipines , these days ?

About 6 months ago BA announced it would take expressions of interest for a new league, replacing the old NBL, increase Opals and Boomers games played in Australia, against quality opposition.
And work with International Basketball for participation in an Asian champions league for 2011.

So why wouldn't people vote for community sports buildings? I wouldn't vote for an NBL jaunt into Asia, but would most definitely vote for a sports stadium for my kids. The pollies just haven't discovered the deep support for this issue, as revealed in the Burnside survey. When they do find out that there's votes in it, then we'll get some action.

Burnside Council survey said last week most people there wanted an indoor sports stadium, because there's nothing in the east. Mars is private, CLC is dodgy, Unley is school.
Trouble is, SA Government has no policy, literally no policy, much less funding to support it, to provide community facilities for any sport. Feds do elite sport and peak bodies, but the rec and sport office can onl y hand out up to $300,000, which may help with a car park/storage shed, but won't build a knox/Wayville etc. If only Martin H-Sm wanted to build basketball stadiums instead of whatever it is he does want to build...

I believe youll find that basketball and soccer receive the most money for local facility grants of any sports in Victoria.

I guess it depends on your definition of significant. For me, being a major source of funding is significant.

It is true that basketball hasnt received the boost funding netball and soccer have received, that is probably to do with the fact that those sports have reviewed their operations and basketball hasnt.

Fe govt certainly puts significant funs into basketball through the Australian Sports Commission. Funding is based on participation rates, Olympic status, and world ranking - and basketball has big ticks in all boxes.

Dont know about SA State Gov, but in Victoria the Gov would put as much money into basketball as any other sport,, if not more, thorugh grants to build new facilities.

The overall review of the sport was initiated largely because the Fed Govt felt the sport was being inefficiently run. The brief was to create a structure that linked the grassroots with the elite and create a sustainable elite competition etc or else not only risk not having funding increased, but being reduced significantly.

Once BA can show it has achieved those goals, it is likely to receive a significant boost in govt funding. The community linkages in Cairns, Townsville and Wollongong have helped in that regard, but the withdrawal of Melbourne and South, opening the door for a Basketball Vic aligned team that creates the linkage in the sports biggest market.

With BA aiming to introduce similar models in Sydney and Brisbane the following year, this has opened the door for BA to achieve their required goals and get the funding boost.