Hoops

NBL Rnd 1 Crowds

I don't necessarily agree with the concept of 'looking after the real fans' and not being concerned with the rest of the sport loving public.

IMO the broader the NBL is promoted the wider the net and the more fish we can catch.

Any promotion will always keep the avid fan happy because that fan is already into the NBL and will no doubt be all over the news, the highlights, the schedule and everything else related to the NBL.

But, promoting only to those already converted does little to expand the league I would have thought...

I am not religeous, but a guy from Nazareth a few thousand years ago didn't worry about those who knew nothing about him or his followers and ended up with quite a crowd (be it at his alleged crucifiction, bit of bad luck there).

My point being perhaps that it isn't only money that is needed here it is maybe some more faith in the product and a little inspiration!

I've mentioned this before on this site but at Perth Wildcats games you have your typical male demographic, you have retirees that have supported for years, you have plenty of young families and you even have young ladies that bring their girlfriends along to watch!

By mentioning this I'm simply saying that there should be no demographic that NBL shouldn't be targeting but if Situation is saying that he doesn't want resources spent on trying to get those that are ignorant about the sport for the sake of being ignorant then I kinda agree with him. There IS money to be spent on advertising and hopefully with each club talking to each other about how successful clubs do things that everyone can advertise more efficiently and we can get huge crowds each round

The Situation, maybe they wouldnt be the NBLs first priority, but the target audience is essentially anyone that could be persuaded to watch the games.

Old timers that have been following the league since its inception probably weren't the target audience of the Allstar game in Adelaide, for instance, with someone like Reece Mastin performing per-game. The players I coach in Adelaide from last season couldn't name a few current (or even recent!) 36ers, so are they and their families by extension on the verge of being excluded from the NBLs target audience? I hope not.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the quality of the NBL and therefore the product itself. Putting bums in seats at games or telecasts allows the product to make the sales pitch.

5ish years ago, I was not certain of the NBLs existence, nor all that interested in finding out. Thanks to the FTA broadcasting deal gradually reeling me back in, I now avidly follow the NBL after years of allocating the same time and resources to following the NBA. I would never make the switch back thanks to the high quality product the NBL provides.

I know I'm overly optimistic but I'm expecting big crowds for every game. We have New Zealand welcoming their back to back to back champions so that has got to be plentiful,

We have a reptile rumble so regardless of any issues the game should sell just on the rivalry and hopefully those that attend like what they see.

Kings vs. Tigers should get people to the game.

I'd be disappointed if we don't have 12000 to Perth Arena this Friday as 36ers drew quite well here last year and I can't see why we wouldn't get that again and it is a massive game for Trevor Gleeson as he would want our support from game 1 and hopefully he gets it.

I might be overly optimistic this round but their isn't any dull matchups that should play to 2500 or less.

Enjoy everyone

@Mystro/the situation

"I agree with The Situation, is it the NBL's job to educate these people in the ways of www.google.com?"

If the Nbl is happy with the current level of fanfare, don't bother going the extra mile.

If, however, you want the nbl to attract a wider audience, I would not endorse the notion of discounting a market sector on the basis of their lack of interest or ignorance. To me, this appears to be a very small-minded perspective.

Sorry, I just wanted some peoples thoughts on the upcoming season's popularity how everyone thinks it will go. Sorry about a bad topic.

How many do you think they will get Mick?

And it isn't all about the NBL either, let's face it they can push and push but if the media moguls are more interested in cricket and soccer they just won't put the same effort into it or give basketball a fair or equal amount of space...

I bet the stories and news are out there, circling in a holding pattern, they just need a landing platform!

I can see both sides, here is my example (oh, and I hope the NBL does this, I will wait and see)...

At the start of the AFL season, the NRL season and as we are now seeing it the A-League and cricket season for example here is what you will observe in the local news papers:

1. At least a two plus page spread of the local game/games featuring the home teams (Melbourne if in Victoria etc...)

2. At least another two or so page spread of the team lists and some stories, information and pics of all other games for that weekend (including Friday night).

3. Stories in the lead up, draft picks, young players coming through, journo's writing up all manner of news and points of interest about international players (A-League and cricket), players at new teams, crossing over from team to team, press on star players etc...

Now, here we have an international sport with all of the above and at least as much as the A-League or cricket as far as international scope is concerned, but where are the stories, where are the team lists highlighted by a two page spread with big colourful photos and where is the sport of basketball being represented by main-stream media?

I get the internet and how you can search for this stuff, don't get me wrong I am not being negative on what the NBL is trying to do with TV, social media and technology, but the sports fans out there want to open a paper and have a read of what's happening while they sip a coffee and munch on a scone...

That's what I think the boys in the office are missing out on!!

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't take a water trough and shove it into the horse's face.

I agree with The Situation, is it the NBL's job to educate these people in the ways of www.google.com?

@NBL Fan,

The rough-cut figure I was told was approximately 7,500. Obviously there will be a lot of fudge factor depending on which sections sell out, how thirsty everyone is, etc...

I am not sure about the Wildcats this year. Does anyone know how many people need to attend Perth Arena on game nights for the Wildcats to break even?

Also just found out that Crocs tckets go on sale tomorrow. It is a bit lat, don't know how many willgo to their game on Saturday. Anything under 4000 is embarrassing.

According to Ticketek, everything on the lower bowl of the Arena is "limited availability" except Gold which is "single seats only". When you search for a block of ten, best available you get Silver Section 312, which is (I think) pretty close to the last block to fill. Bronze is up to 302 (those odd shoulder blocks on the wings of the stage stand), and Nickel is back to block 309, the far corner. I don't think 4th tier will be open.

With four days to go and the marketing kicking in, I am rather optimistically hoping for ~12k.

Man alive we need to win this one though, and in style. I think a lot of people are holding off on the memberships to get a sample of the new look Wildcats.

I agree, my estimate was a little off.

Breakers had 7000 for a pre-season match against a Chinese Team so that figure prob isn't far off and may even get up to 8500 as it's the last week of school holidays here in Auckland.

Does anyone here player Saturday afternoons in the Church league at Westminister?

The reason I ask is that there is a ref there that should not be umpiring adult basketball.

I will try and say this the politist way possible, is is somewhat retarded, I'm not sure to what extent.

He clearly does not understand the rules of the game and when questioned about it, he will call techs everytime. The other umpire with him asks us to bare with him, why should we. We pay good money to play, we should get a decent ref.

Just wondering if anyone else has had him the last month or so?