Hoops

NBL not keen on Tasmanian team

My point was that tassie people are not going to drive from Hobart to Devonport say after a night game.

In vic u can just catch a train and make it back quick. In tas you would have to stay the night and go back the next day.

And you aren't going to do that just to see adam gibson are you?

Professional sports / entertainment is all about business really. Sure it start with players wanting to test themselves and play againt the best from other centres but then the cost comes in and they won't play unless they get paid. As soon as players want payment everybody realises they also want payment, from the coach to the bloke who opens the stadium. So in the end the league might want a team in every town but it can't happen. Not becasue the league is no good, but because someone has to pay the bills.
Finaicial backers are not usually loking to give there moneyy away. They usually expect some type of return, either direct or indirect. Fans need to put their hand in their pocket to support the teams and to support thie sponsors.

The problem was that no one in tassie is going to drive nearly 4hrs to see a game.

U name me another state where people do that?

You can't catch a train in tas

Good points Jack, it does kind of make you wonder why the AFL and NRL haven't flirted with placing teams in Tassie.

I think there could be a number of factors at play here. There was an interview recently (I think it was the PER-ADL game) where an NBL rep (?) spoke about the NBL future direction and mentioned Asia. The expansion into Singapore did not work and the I cringe a little bit if the NBL are planning teams out of Asia. The A-League does well to link itself with Asia due to the FIFA grouping and it works well, so the NBL could align itself along those lines if the deal was right. Who knows, The NBL might be giving priority to future NZ clubs over certain other teams to make it more of an Australasian feel.

An AFL club has the luxury of marketing its product with attendance of an average of 40,000 compared to an average of 4,000 to an NBL game. Budget wise, they can spread costs over more bodies. An operating budget to attendance ratio would be say $500/head vs say $750/head. With a Tassie NBL team, it needs to be well attended and well supported by businesses. The best businesses are ones with FMCG products as these can market to consumers. Nyrstar in Hobart or BHP Bliliton at Bell Bay are unlikely to sponsor. Tassel may be interested, or alternatively a National product is required. One which gets coverage on FTA TV. If the proposal had a lot of support from larger Tassie businesses, then it would be looked on favourably I would suggest.

Apart from cricket, I don't think Tasmania has any national teams (maybe field hockey) and I think that speaks volumes. It either means there is a massive opportunity for a team to get up and show some Tassie pride, or else there is a fundamental flaw with the market that other sports recognise and that needs to be addressed prior to a NBL team getting up.

When you cut to the chase, the difference between a lot of sports and basketball is that basketball is an indoor sport. I think that gets overlooked a lot of the time when it comes to the NBL. The marketing and operation of an indoor sport is very different to an outdoor sport.