Hoops

State of Current NBL Teams

Further to that point:

Out of all the uses for tax-payer money, you are really going to argue about it going towards sponsoring sport ?

I thought tax-payers money going towards unemployed people on the benefit (who have no intention of ever working) or the other thousand uses it goes towards (which are more controversial) would anger you more...

I have absolutely no idea how you set a break even number Koberulz, the again I'm not sure how you'd do that for any of the other teams.

To me I look at it as an empty seat and not as 'oh that is $70 they are missing out on' or 'wow there must be a dozen $20 seats that aren't filled'. I'd just like to see every seat filled and if that is from the opposition (even if they are Tigers supporters who run on the court after a win) then so be it!

The other thing about the Wildcats' break-even point: tickets are between $10 and $290. How can you even set a break-even number?

I don't doubt for a moment that Healthway would resign with the wildcats in the sake capacity and yes it has a lot more to do than bums on seats and success on court...

The rest of the league might think we are mugs but lets face it the NBL is full of exemplary citizens that I'm sure the AFL/NRL would spend a truckload of money getting their sportspeople with the same reputations as NBL players have... So a brand like Healthway would be silly if they didn't try and sign with Perth once again.

Does anyone disagree with that statement ?

Yeah, I do remember a considerably lower break-even point being listed. It was still high, but I think it was actually a little below the 10k mark.

I can't imagine 12,000 is their break-even point on a game. The highest attendance they've ever got with the top tier blocked off is 12,381, which wasn't far from a sellout. Can't imagine it seating more than 12,500 at an absolute maximum in that setup.

"Koberules. Perth arena hold 14,500."
No, it doesn't. It holds a maximum of 13,710 in basketball mode, with the top tier open. Unless it's a special occasion, the top tier is curtained off, bringing attendance down even further.


Lowering capacity lowers the required staff, which lowers the cost of hiring the venue.

That, and possibly folding away some of the retractable seating.

What do you mean by "reconfigured"?
Is that code for "they have extra curtains that can be deployed"?

15,000 what? PA doesn't seat 15,000 if that's what you're trying to say.

It can be reconfigured to seat around 8,000, which is probably what will happen in the even crowds decrease.

I am saying that if the Wildcats sponsorship from Healthway ended tomorrow then I'm foolish enough to believe that with the Wildcats in a far more attractive situation than when the contract was signed and corporates would give an even greater $ amount as there are massive companies out there that have to see that Wildcats having 10k+ fans atleast 14 times a year seeing their product not to mention the sale of merchandise and I do think Perth can afford to be choosy and Ennis has made the game more attractive... Lets hope it rubs off on the other teams.

^ The break-even is that high because they're funneling a lot of dough into their basketball program (and marketing). It's not that they can't make money off the venue, its that they are leveraging their ability to make money off it.

I'm talking about things like training programs, exercise equipment, support staff, recovery facilities, things like that. Not ehrmagerd, cheating cap!

No. None exists. People are, as usual, making things up.

Reidy's said they're not getting nearly as many people at the games as they need, and there 'may not be a second year', and Wollongong's major sponsor has gone bust, so there is genuine reason to be concerned, but there's been absolutely nothing thus far to indicate that they won't be around.

Does anyone have any actual info that is reliable that the Crocs and Hawks are gone next season?

*pack their venues

Who is the idiot that said Cairns pay no rent for their venue? It's actually just over $20 000 per game for them to hire the venue. I suppose all the convention centre workers are working for free as well? Cairns are doing well because they actually pack their arena even as they struggle because people up here love their team. The big city teams with their millions of people are an embarrassment the way the can't even pay their venues and look at the top 4 they are all big city markets.. Stop traffic the next time Melbourne get a sell out in their massive 4000 seat arena!!

We can decide to prop teams like TSV up with funds year in year out.

But, you aren't really solving anything. More just masking the problem -- which is their lack of crowd attendance/low-level interest from the community

You are just giving them money to stay afloat and holding of on the inevitable


Surely if you are going to give money, you would rather allocate it to a new team (from somewhere like Brisbane) who you know can pull the community support, draw crowds and increase sponsorship.

Ultimately, TSV can't sustain a team in the NBL, so you have two options:

- Fix it now and get Brisbane in

or

- Make teams prop TSV up for another 5-6 years after which they will fold anyway


The first option makes more sense.

So every team is supposed to declare to NBL on a monthly basis their books (to show if they are hemorrhaging money... Would be fascinating seeing those and all the expenditures that a club has.

I think we are all getting a bit worried about Wollongong and Townsville with their awful crowd attendances but do remember this league has no naming rights sponsor and the league headquarters acknowledged that and were happy enough to go this season without one... You'd have to believe that next season we will have one and hopefully it is a string recognizable brand and won't turn people off the product like 'alcohol th!nk again' which is atrocious.

We have to have faith that next season we won't have boring arsed playing jerseys but ones that everyone will want to wear and hopefully every team earns from the sale of them and the exciting new crop of imports that will come into our great league

"Crocs pay over $20k for rent per game at the TECC, for that they get nothing in return!"

They get the building. That's how rent works.

Their is a push for a new stadium in Townsville and I hear that it will have a convention/entertainment centre attached.

The stadium hasn't been approved yet and that is still many years away for the Crocs.

The only other option for the Crocs is to move to RSL stadium which is around 2000 seats and people say it is terrible viewing.

Just because Cairns are a community model, please don't bracket them with TSV and Gong. As was mentioned early, they are one of the few clubs in the league who are in the black.

In a previous post someone was talking about how Hawthorn generate $3M from gate sales and get another $13M from other sources.

The problem with equalisation is that there aren't enough teams making enough of a profit.

"NBL clubs need 3 million."
What basis do you have for this number?

I don't know why a successful club should have to give their earnings to struggling clubs.

This is an ongoing topic.

I think we have consensus that an NBL team needs about $4M/yr to cover costs. In a league of 8 teams that means the league needs to generate at least $32M/yr in revenue to survive. You probably want to aim for at least $35M/yr to be sure.

There is some good logic in a gate equalisation as teams will do well and others struggle. Court attendance numbers are linked to on court success.

Teams who manage things well and get good numbers should not be penalised, but the waxing and waning of on court success means these numbers vary.

Perhaps each club puts in 10% of their court takings and this gets split 8 ways. Thoughts?

Perth and Cairns are, AFAIK, the only teams making a profit. Cairns made a few bucks, the Wildcats somewhere around a million. Not really enough to start sharing it around.

Equalisation is what's required.

Perth, nz, adelaide?

Share the wealth so the nbl survives