Hoops

Breakers playoff areana

In a dream world the NBL would be rich and be able to compensate clubs for prebooking venues for playoffs!

As sad as I was about NZ winning the title (congratulations to everyone involved) the aspect that I found most annoying was that out of 9 potential playoff games the league only got 6 and whilst the Wildcats got $200 out of me for 2 seats I think it's sad that clubs couldn't host more games and risk the issues as spoken about above

I understand the difficulty that teams have with venue availability - especially with the playoffs, as they can't book the venue in advance in case they don't make the finals, and then risk losing a lot of money.

I remember way back in 1994, the Wildcats had to give up the Entertainment Centre for Game 1 of the Quarter Finals because of either Disney on Ice, or Torvill and Dean were performing that night.

Cats were forced to play at Burswood.

So this is a long standing problem for teams when its playoff time.

Its just a very unfortunate situation - and somewhat a sign of how basketball is perceived in Australia - that teams are forced to move to smaller, alternative venues for what should be their showcase event.

Can you possibly imagine the AFL, NRL or A-League having its showpiece finale played at an inferior venue because of a pre-booking!? Would never happen! But then there is also a greater number of outdoor venues too to cater for them.

Would be great to see a bit of loyalty from these venues as no doubt the NBL team would be the main tenant there throughout the year. I know, money is everything and that will never happen :)

"Melbourne loses its two biggest venues for pretty much all of January due to the Australian Open tennis, though I'd imagine come finals time they would have use of Hisense and Margaret Court Arena's if needed.

I don't imagine the Wildcats would have this problem even though Perth Arena is Perth's major indoor venue. Same with Cairns and Wollongong."

HoldenV8, I think you will find that the Wildcats lose Perth Arena for a few weeks around XmasNew Year due to the Hopman Cup being played there and I am also pretty sure the recent playoff game against Cairns could only be played on the Sunday because of a Guy Sebastian concert being held on the Saturday, which would have been booked well in advance.

I think Cairns also has to schedule games around eventsconventions that are held at the Convention centre.

"Having yesterday's game at North Shore and not Vector shows either someone stuffed up the scheduling and didn't have the foresight to book Vector in advance (even if only tentatively) or it was inflexible TV scheduling that forced the move (I'd be betting on the latter)."

HoldenV8, there is no such thing as "tentatively" booking a venue like Vector Arena, it's either booked and your deposit is paid or it isn't and with a very expensive venue like Vector you aren't going gamble with your deposit money.

Agree, ABC's production of the WNBL and the whole WNBL season was again of a decent standard, and they seem to always be on a shoestring budget too...

Fair enough. Glad that its live everywhere else, and I hope it rates well.

I have no problem with small venues for atmosphere. Just not for a grand final, when a bigger better venue that if available would have given it the finale it deserves with a big crowd.

And because I thought it was delayed across the country (I live in Perth so I'm watching it delayed) it would have been reasonable to expect the game to at least be played at Vector on a night that is was available. Since its live everywhere else however, and on a preferred Sunday, that point is no longer valid.

I love the atmosphere at the NSEC

@Haz: it was live in NZ, QLD, NSW, VIC, and ACT.

It was/will be (still hasn't started in WA) also on Channel Ten on a Sunday afternoon, which is better for catching channel-surfing eyeballs than One late on a weeknight.

Because its the NBL, that's why :)

Meanwhile Im waiting for the delayed TV coverage to start. With a delayed TV broadcast, I don't know why it was imperative to have the game played today if the Breakers couldn't get Vector arena. It would have been better if they had the game on Monday night, played it at Vector in front of 9,000 and Ten/One did whatever they wanted to do with the coverage. Probably delayed at 9:30.

Was really no point sacrificing a bigger, better arena because Ten wanted to play on Sunday - delayed.

This NBL season has really taken a dive since the playoffs started.