Hoops

Why are Perth so successful off court?

First thing that comes to mind about this thread is the poor Sydney Kings and how since bring re-admitted to the league it seems that their biggest home crowds each season they seem to get thumped and the extra few thousand that attend leave with a bad taste in their mouth. Winning isn't everything but putting in insipid efforts when you have more eyes on you isn't helping at all.

As for the wildcats and their success and how their advertising is a class above and their on court success is what drives their profits; I'm not certain at what point I'm trying to make but the West Coast waves also play here in Perth and they are absolutely never heard from or of amd im not sure what could change that and I personally would love double headers at Perth Arena but it isn't feasible for the Waves would.

Those 28 Straight t-shirts probably helped the average punter figure out the number ... <.<

Ask the people that go to the games in Perth about how many consecutive games the Cats have been in. I am sure the average punters there wouldn't have a clue. I guess so many failures in more to the point.

Anon 0839 : I've lived in 3 cities in Australia (Perth ,Brisb, Syd) and believe me there is plenty to do in Perth :)

^

Not just salty, but desperate for excuses!

Much like AFL, teams financial success can come down to the stadium deal, ie how much they have to pay for the use of the venue. Don't think any NBL actually owns their own venue.

Adelaide Arena is like the best house in the worst street, again it is like Footy Park in its dasy or even the old Waverly Park. Originally built by the sport for the sport to have some control over its destiny. But in each case, built in the wrong place - well out of the city.

Melbourne are now playing out of bigger, more centrally located venues. If they can get the on court stuff sorted they will rival Perth. IF!

Just as soon as we secede, Mystro, we'll be in on that ;)

Yet they aren't the team with their own television deal ;)

The most important factor in the Wildcats success has been their commitment and targeting of children and families.

The Wildcats players do double the requirement of community service hours than any other club.

The club specifically contracts players with personal values that align with the club.

Everything else has flowed through because of this commitment to grass roots.

While Bendat has deep pockets, the agreement has always been that whatever Bendat allows the cats to spend, they repay him that money. So yes spending money allows you to make money and the cats have an advantage there, they have to make more money back than other clubs.

The Marketing and advertising you see now is a result of many years hard work building up to this point.

The whole "Wear red" campaign started at challenge and has translated perfectly over to the arena.

The cats built a solid "community" of fans at the 5,500 seat Challenge stadium, and this allowed them to expand to the arena.

Whoever said the Wildcats don't target Australian Basketball fans was also correct. The Wildcats plain and simply don't do that. It's annoying as a basketball fan, but at the same time the families bringing their kids pay the bills.

Basketball is also massive in Western Australia - the media will lead you to believe otherwise, but the City and the State has always had a very strong connection to the sport.

The other statement of the Wildcats not being run like a sports club, but a business is also very true.

Great management and business strategies has lead to the off-court juggernaught that is the Perth Wildcats, but also winning and a winning culture has played a massive factor.

The Perth Wildcats are Western Australia's most successful professional sporting organisation by a country mile.

Also the Perth Wildcats have a squeaky clean image compared to other sporting code clubs in WA. This has allowed them to attract major dollars from "healthy" "politically correct" sponsors. The whole "no junk food" "no alcohol" "no soft drink" ads has been apart of the wildcats for a good 5 to 8 years.

Off topic, but my prediction is with other "bigger" australian sports getting more image and health conscious you will see a lot more organisations like "alcohol think again" start throwing their sponsorship money to those sports, and eventually the cycle will return to the Wildcats being sponsored by a "coke" or "swan gold".

"and they'll line up in the scorching Perth sun sipping their Dome coffees"

I can't even begin to describe the glee I felt when a Dome opened up next door to my office.

There's no doubt they set the benchmark. I think these factors contribute to their success (not in any order)

1. Financial stability off court. Having an owner with deep pockets helps.
2. Corporate support. The WA economy is an interesting one and has been leading the way for some time, albeit it has a little bit of the flu at the moment. When the economy is good and businesses have extra cash to splash around, then they can promote themselves without worrying about it too much. A lot of the businesses in Perth are standalone businesses. In some states, the businesses are "branch offices" and have a branch office mentality which doesn't help sponsorship. Having good sponsors helps.
3. Location. Court location is great being so close to CBD. People can watch a game, then grab a bite to eat before or after the game, or go to the nightclubs if they are keen.
4. Marketing. The Perth marketing is second to none. They feature prominently in the TV news, papers and social media. The product they are selling is a consumer based entertainment. People need to know they are there. They do it well. The AFL are masters at this. Look at how they rule the roost on TV news. For those of us in Adelaide, just watch the TV news tonight and I'll place a $20 on that there's an AFL story (or puff piece). I don't get the Crow-vertiser any more, but I am sure the AFL would account for most of the sports section.
5. The attitude of Sandgropers. Apart from recalcitrant Queenslanders (and they can blame the excess of heat, bananas and Bundy rum for that) (eh, but), Sandgropers have quite an independent attitude in general. Show me a group of Aussies and you can pick the Perth ones a mile off. The years of isolation has built up a level of self reliance and independence that "eastern staters" don't show. Any contest in which a Sandgroper has the opportunity to beat a "eastern stater" and they'll line up in the scorching Perth sun sipping their Dome coffees. That level of patriotism isn't as high in other states. Sydneysiders like to brag to each other how much they make and how much their house on the north shore is worth (how they can afford mortgages is beyond me), Melbournians are too busy stuck in the rain on the Western Ring Road talking about their footy club and listening to Eddie Maguire and Adelaidians are too busy asking each other what school they went to while sipping a cheeky chardonnay on the Parade.
6. Professional Approach. As alexkrad notes, you need to run the organisation like a professional organisation. Everything is all linked. The better sponsorship you get, the better the organisation is, but the organisation needs to be professional.
7. Think outside the square. I know they sent their office staff to the US on a bit of a fact finding mission post season to see how they could improve. You need deep pockets to afford that, but by looking at how others do things, you can improve. By doing the same old stuff time and time again, just gets boring and lessens the excitement. By finding out how other codes or groups do things, you can pick out the best bits and enhance the entertainment package.

A nice shiny venue right where the people are, and a winning environment are huge factors. Just ask Port Adelaide's die hard AFL fans. 2-3 season ago they to put traps over numerous bays of seats so that the 15k - 20k people who turned up woudl ahve to sti together.
Now they are winning and playing in in nice shiny Adelaide Oval, right in the city, suddenly going to watch Port play is the fashionable thing to do and they play in front of 50k people.
So 30,000 people are suddenly loving the footy.

Compare that with the 36ers. Great venue, probably needs a bit of a tidy up - improved sound system and lighting that allwows for black out intros etc. But if Adelaide Arena was at Memorial Drive how much easier would it be to find! How many more would wonder in? You could use public transport to / from matches. You could go into the city after games. Signage around the venue would actually be seen by the general public. I reckon the crowds woudl double

fstos above really hit the nail on the head.

I think the major deal with the Wildcats is that at least for the last 10 years, they have really targetd the family market. That is their intention isnt to target the Australian basketball fan.. although by extension the more people go to a game the more they get know about basketball.

Success helps to, Jack Bendat helps (and the cool thing is his kids are very much into bball too) so its a combination of everything.

A Team like Adelaide even if they had a Jack Bendat would have most of the ingredients bar the Location. Its just too far out of a central location and away from train/public transport. People head to the Arena in Perth because its under a 10 minute walk. Thats doable.