Hoops

Fraser Neill resigns as NBL CEO

unlikely to watch perth agen this sunday

cooper tells media one thing and refs do another. off topic, but it just struck me kinda funny

I think the NRL should be looked at as an example in some ways as there are similarities.

League is trying to expand in similar ways to basketball, yet it is still considered a northern states dominated sport. Basketball therefore may have more potential within Aus and NZ and like League and soccer it is great on TV.

AFL is always better viewing live, at the game, but TV is in love with it and the $$$ are huge. But we need not concern ourselves with the AFL as it is not played during the summer season. Nore is the NRL, I am only using the sport viewed on TV as an example.

NRL crowds are not always huge, similar stadium size and numbers to the A-League, but TV is all over those sports (and the cricket).

NRL is especially good on TV as the play is isolated in a line most of the time, making following the game and using camera angles very effective.

Basketball is also a sport where TV can focus on most of the play, it is a great game to watch on TV and live, think of how well the NBA does this...

The NBL board needs to get the NBL mix right and work to establish the product with the best concepts we can and if they do I can't see why TV would not want to get on board, but all the negative media, uncertainty and ill direction isn't helping...

I have concerns now, losing Neill is not in the best interests of basketball in this country...

I dont't know the answer to that question as Boti says below the NBL has taken a body low with Neill leaving.
http://www.botinagy.com/blog/fraser-says-cheers-and-best-of-luck/
3 teams possibly making money. United haven't yet and with everyone under the pump it's crunch time right now.
New clubs wanting to get in and the man with the vision who set it all up has left, because it seems clear to me his vision wasn't that of the NBL board.
I don't know a lot it seems but maybe Boti is onto something when he said "Of course, if, hypothetically, the Perth Wildcats weren't to endorse Neill's idea - not that anyone asked them to play outside the Perth Arena - then maybe the plan was scuttled on the launch pad."
He also says "Well, at the risk yet again of raising the ire of that particular breed of blinded one-eyed fans west of Kununurra - the "we get 11,000-plus to our games so we are the greatest," might=right brigade - the whiff seems to be emanating out of Perth." What would I know.

Strange eh.

Please tell me about Brisbane re entering seeing will work for starters. Go ahead.

The longer the non expansion of the league happens the less likely it is there ever will be one. The NBL is on the brink of folding and the TV deal for next season isn't close at all.

Brisbane are in. Why? Who knows. Money? Who knows. Admin, who knows. Everything is dependant on the TV rights and the TV people clearly want a product that includes mid week games and a short season.
Right now I recon the NBL is close to folding. The Neill resignation spells trouble and as others have already said if Neill cant win over the Board to achieve his vision, then the next person in will succumb to the same logger head. Marvin.
It's mot that long ago the Wildcats were talking about fully funding the expansion of at least one team. What now?

"Perth wouldn't want to play mid week games undoubtedly either home or away."
Why not?

Hard to say whats happening but if he's cracked heads with Marvin, then heaven help the NBL for the future.
Perth wouldn't want to play mid week games undoubtedly either home or away.

I said it before they appointed Fraser Neill. They need to throw the kitchen sink at Andrew Demetriou to become the new CEO

Ben Fitzsimons for CEO?

the concern is for injuries on 3points for dunks

Introduce the 3 point dunk. No casual fan wants to see Schenscher or Knight laying the ball in when they are open.

Wow, well of course we will be hearing more on this news, not great again but let's hope we can start fresh and move forward from it, again!

Mid week games for most families is not great, especially if you have kids that play, not sure the NBL should go down this track, but they need to try things I guess...

I have always thought that a major restructure needs to happen, watch this space...

As CEO he should have been the rudder guiding the ship...

The NBL seems to be losing CEO's/ Chairmen, etc far too often. As a fan who is on the outside looking in, I have to ask whether there are some dysfunctional personalities driving people out time and again? Or is it that people take on the role and then quit once they see insurmountable problems?

I agree with pretty much everything in your article Paul. Especially about keeping the NBL in the news each day. To grow the sport there has to be some hype week in, week out to get people paying attention.

FTA TV can obviously reach far more fans than you can get in a stadium, so if mid-week games can land you a good TV deal with multiple live games per week, then that would be a good thing.

Herein lies the problem though. It sounds like Fraser Neill was perhaps too eager to push forward with this mid-week thing before all the very real problems had been resolved?

There are obviously some things that need to happen before you could make mid-week games a success:
- More teams - 8 is not enough for midweek games
- More thought has to go into the look of the TV coverage in small stadiums with small crowds. I watched the Sixers first away game this year in Townsville and it looked like a rec. league game!
- Not all teams are equal: don't force teams to play midweek games until you are sure they have a viable way to do it. Ie, a venue that is going to look good on TV, can fit all the members and is located somewhere most can get to on a week night.

From the sounds of things, Fraser Neill has butted heads with Perth ownership when there was no need to. Given that none of the things I listed above have happened yet, it seems to me that the NBL would be foolish to move on mid-week games too quickly.

I think the NBL should make mid-week games happen, but not until everything is in place to make it a success.

The NBL will be in some of the papers tomorrow now!

Definitely more too it as per Paul's article.

Mid-week games does not currently work for the NBL, neither the NBL, NRL, or even the European national basketball leagues where the overwhelming majority are all plated on the weekend (with Euroleague/Eurocup intercontinental elitist leagues played mid-week instead).

Matthew, the only sponsorship NT would attract would be Government stuff and possible a large organisation like Coke may consider it if the FTA TV was good.

Jack: Whilst Id love to see a NT team, Im not so sure it would ever happen. There seems to be a sponsorship blackhole when it comes to the NT. It would be easy enough to build a full airconditioned venue though.

Mid week game might work for regional towns as it is an event, but seriously?

I like the idea of about 12 to 16 teams in the NBL.

The obvious is to get Brisbane, a second Melbourne team and second NZ team. Then Tasmania (either Hobart or Launceston), Canberra, Geelong, Newcastle. The Singapore experiment did not work due to travel and it's hard to see it happening again. Darwin seems void of any national teams. Maybe the hot weather is better for barra fishing than watching a game.

Another option might be to have two positions open to the best SEABL/ABL teams with a pro/rel setup? At the end of their season, they play off for a spot. Current NBL teams have a secure spot, but then perhaps a wildcard spot is opened up and once in, they hold that spot, except if that team finishes with a certain W/L ratio, or below a set position, then the high ranked SEABL teams could challenge for their spot in the NBL with a playoff.

How long has he been in the job?

Oh crap