Hoops

Blaze appoint voluntary administrator

The Blaze had to raise ticket prices this year because Gold Coast Convention Cntre was raising rent. I hope the Blaze get out of this. I am a fan but I am from Brisbane. Gold Coasters=Lazy

blockquote > Quote < / blockquote > (but remove the spaces)

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Statement released by the league today:

"The National Basketball League has released the following statement from Basketball Australia interim Chief Executive Officer Scott Derwin as an update on the status of the Gold Coast Blaze, who were placed into voluntary administration last week.

“I flew to the Gold Coast last week and on Thursday met with the ownership of the Gold Coast Blaze as well as the players, team staff and the club’s appointed Administrator, Roland Robson,” said Mr. Derwin. “Those meetings have given us reason for renewed levels of optimism around the future of the club.

“The team’s ownership and management are extremely confident of finalising negotiations with an additional new investor with whom they had already been in discussions.

“Clearly, we still need to allow the Administrator to analyse these plans and the overall position of the club in detail before we can be certain that Gold Coast will continue to play on in the NBL. However based on the information we have so far, those who have been forecasting the demise of the Blaze since Friday are certainly premature and quite possibly wrong.”

The NBL will provide a further update once the Administrator has completed his analysis."


I'm going to have to learn how to do the proper quoting formatting.. Is it [quote] [/quote]?

How do people know all those aliases are joycefan?

Townsville has never had excess cash, they just adhered to a strict budget with top ups from their private owners the last few years. They are moving to a community ownership model like the Taipans and the WNBL team (who followed the Taipans model to save itself) because the private owners can't afford to do it any more.

Prior to community ownership, the Taipans were propped up by the private owner (owned a whole heap of Car yards country wide, one of the largest toyota dealers in Queensland) via cash injections. They spent beyond their means and obviously went bust when the private owner couldn't prop it up anymore.

The new Taipans community ownership model is based on what the club can attract in community support, sponsorship and ticket/merch sales each season. It operates as a not-for-profit with a board and club president. Thus why the club is highly integrated into the community / activities and lives 'hand to mouth'. While it means 'no championship team buying', it also ensure long term viability as the NBL club is integral within Cairns Basketball all the way down to the juniors (junior clubs have an NBL player assigned to them to assist with coaching and running of the teams for example. School visits are an opportunity to attract new young players to basketball and increase ticket sales cause the kids want to see the team who spent the afternoon playing basketball with them etc).

Power at the Taipans resides with the board, not 1 individual. They are voted in yearly at the AGM and all club members have a vote.

Its sad to see an NBL club who is growing basketball on the GC, bringing itself and the rest of the league into disrepute because the private owners put legal wrangling over integrity.

Down the plug hole goes another franchise.

This is crazy that things need to change some day.

In the same holding pattern as 20 years ago.

This crap goes to show why state fudge there participation numbers are dwindling.

FFS!

People who dodge debts are dirt/thread

As outsiders looking in Skull i totally agree! There's something there that doesn't add up. Does someone have some form of dirt - nude photos? I doubt it!

Chocco was a well respected coach & won a c/ship in the Gong. Things went sour however.

A contract should be honoured or it's not a contract.

There is anger here & the lawyers are winning...

BTW Blazefan you are a very angry man. i could call u a number of things based on your posts but i'll never stupe to your level.

Grow up dickhead! - Oops i just did.

Blazeboy, You need to re read your vitriolic(answer tomorrow when you find your dictionary) rant, Elvis is spot on.Grow Up!

Elvis, re-read my post cheeseburger boy. I never said they were the only team that went to schools. As for growing up, let me see you're about 22-23? I do feel very privleged that your response to my post was just your 7th since 2005. Look forward to catching up next year 'Tuna King' (LOL).

Mutley, if what I posted was the ramblings of an idiot, what can I say. You were the one to read it and feel strong enough to reply negatively. Just be very thankful that Jokefan from Ozhoops doesn't post here, you'd become a fulltime responder.

Skull, apologies for dickhead and wanker. I'm happier today as it looks like we might survive. Can't take back Gumby though. Have to keep my 'nasty' reputation.

Teams that have tried to buy a championship have always stuggled.
There is lot to be said about building a team not buying one.

The Gold Coast seems a problem city for sport. Someone said to me once that the worse the weather, the more inclined people are to watch, rather than play. Perhaps this is the case with the town. The weather is too good and people would rather spend it surfing, cycling, gardening, sailing, picnicking etc If you live in a cold, dreary place, much better to watch sport on TV, or stand around with your mates complaining about the weather in a grandstand.

Voluntary administration doesn't necessarily mean bye, bye. What is does mean is that it sends a strong message to the NBL and other clubs to watch the finances.

A sporting club cannot rely on spectator tickets to cover all of its costs. If that was the case, the average price of a ticket would be much, much higher. In other posts someone mentioned about TV rights etc. The AFL is able to fund expansion into areas based on the revenues provided by the TV rights. The cost of which is then covered by advertisers knowing people are watching. These TV $ then filter down to the clubs and is a nice little passive income stream.

An industry will never improve by looking at within their own industry. The NBL has a graveyard full of former clubs. It is perhaps one of the only sports where the only consistency is inconsistency.

The NBL needs good, financially viable clubs. It is not an issue that is solely the Gold Coast's issue. With KK now in charge of BA, there is an opportunity to benchmark how other leagues here and around the world in a variety of sports remain viable.

Orbit? to which billionaire are you referring? Certainly not the Tomlinson Family I can assure you - wealthy yes but certainly not anywhere near to Billionaire status!

Natwhereyouat is pretty much the closest to what I understand the truth to be. The Club knows they have to pay out their debts and are manouvering to do so by bringing in a new investor. This however is taking longer than hoped.
Brendan J had set a deadline to be paid (5pm Wednesday) which the Club was unable to meet so rather than face having the club forced into recievership they appointed an administartor which in effect quaratines the club for a short period ie they get the extension on paying out the debts. Now they need to get the new investor locked away and get his cash injection in the bank, remove the administrator, pay out the debt and carry on business.

Certainly not an ideal situation by any means but better than the alternative

So a billionaire liquidates his business to get out of some debts so he can start the business up again with no debts. What is Chocco owed? If the legal fees are 200k & he is owed 300k that's half a mill, right? The court has ordered in favour of Chocco! How can they get out of this & why so spiteful?

If any other club offers more than 1 year deals in the future i'll be very suprised!

Another bad day for the comeback of basketball.

Having been on the receiving end, of a similar situation a few years ago, I can be fairly certain of what will happen.

If the Blaze do not owe money to anyone else (or just small debts/creditors that they will not require the services of, in the future) they will crash the current business (as they have done) and say they do not have the funds to pay out any outstanding debt(s), therefore their previous coach (we all know who he is) will be lucky to be paid 10c in the dollar, "if" there are any assets left with this company.
They will then form a new company (with a similar name) and everything exactly the same as before and carry on like nothing has had an effect on them. Their accountant will see to that, it's all legal.

This is an extremely selfish and cowardly way out of their responsibilities. I hope the NBL have the backbone to stand up to them over this issue, it is a very bad way to do business and reflects horribly on the NBL as the governing body. I have not been a huge fan of the previous coach, but the NBL NEED to protect his due payment (as set by a court of law), and that of other coaches in the future.

If I were a player, coach or any employee I would be very wary of these people / new company, as you can see 'in writing' means nothing to them.

I wrote this massive post but deleted it.. I ramble sometimes..


Basically - The Blaze asked for an extension on paying Joyce (5pm Wed). His team said no. So they took this course which effectively freezes any debts, giving the Blaze (somewhat) an extension.

I've spoken to one of the new signings today who was kept in the loop the whole time, he isn't phased about it all, to the players its BAU.

Skull, you are a dickhead in the eyes of fans like me.

We have done nothing wrong yet we're the ones who lose out (yet again if you were a Rollers supporter like me).

And all you care about or want is for the Blaze to be kicked out. No thought of the fans, club employees, impact on league, and most of all impact on GC basketball. The Blaze have run hundreds of clinics at schools and local clubs and have probably introduced thousands of kids to the sport.

No stuff all of that. Get rid of the Blaze. Simple. Thanks wanker.

BTW most of us were very pleased when Joyus was sacked.

Pull your frigg'n head in you gumby.

I hope big Joe knows whats going on back here at home....someone please tell him to return from his LV trip courtesy of the blaze

Cairns and Townsville have their $1million guarantee through an agreement with their local councils ie. Cairns Regional Council is $1mill guarantor and has seats on the Taipans Board and can fold it up if its losing $$$ to avoid paying anything. Townsville I am not sure on their arrangment as they aren't community owned at the moment (soon will be??)

Wollongong have their $1mill guarantee backed by a local businessman - its on their website.

The 'other 2 -3' mentioned above that didn't pay the $1 mill guarantee aren't the community owned clubs or TSV.

Im with joshuapending here.. What will they do!

Mr Heal would know about this & taken his best mate to the Kings! Sengstock? The plot thickens...

Boys Group A

Pedare
Sacred Heart
Brighton

Group B
Aberfoyle Park
Trinity
Cabra

I wouldnt touch Wortho.
Look at his track record
Dragons: Gone
Kings: Gone (ofcourse came back)
Blaze: Close to it

Not that any of them were HIS fault, but gotta be some bad luck right there!