Hoops

Marino: Lightning need more or new owners by Mar 24

thats an awful lot of money just get his daughter on court, perhaps its time she paid her own way and got a job, then maybe others will take up the batton and get a good team going.

Ditto Anon above - I have supported women's basketball since before the Lightning when local clubs were in the national league but have rarely been since the Lucas sacking. I did write to the club at the time expressing my disappointment with the decision and got a polite reply from Carla Boyd who worked there at the time.

Many comments showing their ignorance of employing people and employers putting their money on the line. The same people who probably complain about Holden's shutting, yet drive a Kia or Subaru.
Without employers and people like Vince you have no jobs and no team to support. Even if he does it just for his daughter, the amount of people who are also benefit is huge. It's a sign of reality that you can't run a franchise with no help or corporate support. No one on this site would give their money away like that. People like Vince should be encouraged, the same goes for Dean at the 36ers. If he doesn't get corporate help he will go the same way.
And Samcro I bet if there was no other team to choose those same players would be grateful to join the Lightning rather than the dole cue.

s.batkovic was on $100k here, e.g.
(g.tippett played wnbl, now plays anz netball champioship)

Agree with FUBR... We purchased a family season ticket this year for our WNBL side, mainly because one of my teenage daughters is now heavily involved in basketball, and i wanted her to have some role models. Show her something to aspire too...

I am fairly new to basketball, but we loved watching the games. The players are in many cases national/Olympic level, the skill level is high, the sport is played hard, the players are down to earth and approachable after the game, all for less than $150 a season. Yes, there is politics and egos, but it is mainly top level women's sport. Compared with the other 'role models' young women are exposed to these days, its the best $150 i've ever spent...

To win a premiership in suburban footy in Melbourne u need $300,000 up. So $500k to run a wnbl side is not out of the question. To all the knockers of Vince what a bunch of idiots u are. To BSA grow some balls and sort out this issue.

Correct... BA, WNBL, and all competing teams need sustainable business models. Adelaide should have a team, but it should not be up to 1 man to finance.

117, a team cannot survive on gate takings alone. I can't find any record of crowd numbers, but would it be 500 to 1,000 per game?

The business model needs to be rehashed IMO. Leagues like the AFL rely on external revenue (e.g. from broadcasting and merchandise) to spread the money around to all the clubs. Gate takings are the cream.

A League can't expect a team to compete, but be in an unsustainable position and make a loss, then rely on a egotistical businessman, Sugar Daddy, or despot to sign the cheques. (not saying that Vince is one of those)

I feel for Vince and would hate to be in his position. With the ball in BA's court, the opportunity is for them to go into the bean bag room and have a think about how it could be done better.

The article in the Crow-vertiser today was interesting. He is basically saying "no-one cares".

"BSA chief executive officer Mark Hubbard — in his own way reflecting exactly what Marino is saying — was “too busy” on Tuesday for an interview on how the state association would react."

Would be sad to see them disappear, but assuming they can get the finances sorted, in order to move forward, what are they doing wrong now, what are they doing right, what should they do more of, and what should there be less of?

The Financial sustainability of the league is a big concern. I see a few threads sick of clubs being on the verge of folding. Have you ever tried to run an elite program? Do you know how hard it is to get sponsors to put their money into women's sport? How do you think the players get paid? And coaches, venues, accommodation, training courts, medical, the list goes on. Attendance at games is lucky to cover venue hire and game day costs. No money is provided by the league as it is in AFL. In fact, clubs have to pay substantial monies to the league for the privilege of playing. League PR and marketing is average at best, no coverage in ,main metro papers (in larger cities) and the sponsorships at the league level are poorly executed. Unless there is an overhaul of the business model or as Vince Marino says, more government support (Canberra is funded by the government and subsidized by Basketball Australia to pay even more for Lauren Jackson- clearly giving Canberra an unfair advantage to the detriment of other financially struggling clubs) there is a concern for the longevity of the league.

Credit to Vince Marino for putting his own money in to support the Adelaide Lightening for so long and shame on those who want to criticize him for it.

I live in Victoria so no, I haven't bought any tickets to games in Adelaide (I have been to several Rangers & Boomers games this season though). Fair point, I didn't know BSA didn't exist at the time when Marino took over. The support wasn't there regardless, something he would've known when he bought the team. As far as the timing goes, surely he could've announced his intentions at least a couple of weeks ago once they were eliminated from making the finals to give as much time as possible to find new owners.

I don't enjoy potting the guy, I'm just sick to death of playing "which team is on the brink of collapse?" every off-season. Surely, we as fans have a right to demand better from our elite clubs. At the end of the day the fact is that he wasn't able to run the business effectively. Otherwise, why would this thread even exist right now?

The WNBL had higher ratings than the NBL several times this season. People are watching

Sorry but I'm sick to death of owners blaming everybody else when they can't run their businesses effectively. Surely Marino would've investigated what sort of support he'd receive from BA, BSA etc before deciding to buy the team. His statements read like somebody that bought the team with his heart and not his head. I can appreciate the guy for being willing to pump in a lot of his own money but surely he would've known he would have to do that with no support from the powers that be as he claims. If he's been losing so much money over the years then why didn't he start looking for new owners this time last year instead of giving less than 3 weeks notice to find new owners or force the club out of business? His heart may have been in the right place but he's just delivering another black eye to professional basketball in Australia.

I know many of you find my comments harsh but I'm just so sick of wondering which team is going to be on the brink of collapse every off season. The game needs stable clubs in both it's men's and women's competitions to move the game forward. Enough is enough.

Good point, SamCro.

Wayville might be a viable option unless WNBL teams are required to play in air-conditioned stadiums. Having a higher crowd density and being closer to the city seems appealing. Not sure how parking would be worked out.

I'm also unsure how the costings of venue hire would compare to Adelaide Arena, but you'd think it would be substantially less elsewhere at a more appropriate venue (relative to crowd size).

So sick of this happening year after year after year. Marino seems to want to point the finger at everybody else but himself. If venue costs are too high, then why not move to a smaller venue? I'm not familiar with the stadiums in Adelaide but is there anywhere with a capacity of say 1000 people? Surely there must be somewhere.