Hoops

What are Cairns doing that others are not??

Practice venue is owned by Cairns Basketball.

it all comes down to Fearne and co recruiting the right players and then the players buying into the Taipans community model system....Fearne and co have made plenty of mistakes in the past but have LEARNT and are now reaping the benefits of that.

and even if they didn't pay rent, so what? If they negotiated the greatest venue usage deal since Caesar leased the colosseum that good on them!

There is no such thing as a free lunch.... especially when that lunch holds 5000+ people.......

hahaha I love anon's that drop 'facts'...

CCC isn't a charity and the council has nothing to do with the building's operations - the building is run by AEG Oden (like GTS said) on behalf of the state government.
The lights dont power themselves with the magic of basketball, the security, door and F&B staff aint magical elves, the stadium doesn't clean itself after games nor does the floor magically appear before.....


Taipans pay rent. end of story.

Well not paying rent would be a huge benefit

I still think there are other things mentioned by people in this thread such as not overspending on players, putting heaps of effort into community engagement that other clubs could learn from

proud: not possible mate, there are no bigger venues around. Even then i'd be waiting until i sold out every game in a season with just season members before i'd take on the extra liability:)

@ King Podge

With Cairns selling out the stadium in no time over the playoffs, is there any call to make the venue larger?

Is it even possible?

Besides not winning the championship ?

I don't know

^ Welcome to the internet.

"Cairns only spent 750 000 this year. Pretty crazy when you relize the Breakers imports nearly get that alone."

they actually get that much each plus a ring ;)

I dont think the rent $$ are publicly available - but i doubt it's an insignificant sum, the convention center still needs to cover their costs etc.

I'd think too that the venue would retain all F&B revenue, but i have no idea.

I think Mick Downer (assistant coach and all-round good guy) plays a huge part in their success, as he has a solid relationship with the younger Australian players as they come through (allowing them to recruit well), as well as his work with the Boomers. I'd say he offers more value to Cairns than all 38 of Perth's assistants combined.

Wow Cairns only spent $750k on the roster, shows what can be done if you spend it right, they had a very well rounded and fairly deep team, makes me wonder what other clubs did with the extra $200k, clearly not getting value for money, and maybe the extra $200k isnt really needed to put a good team on the floor.

this makes me think maybe $750k should be the salary cap, could even go $500-600k + a marquee player for $150-250k. Either way keep the spend to around $750k tops, this alone makes the whole thing more sustainable as you are saving $200k+ already.

Even if the league doesnt stipulate it, i reckon thats something most clubs should look at, reduce your roster spending whilst remaining competitive.

Think about it at the very least you have reduced your spending and loss by $200k, which is huge imo.

win? we had 2 sub .500 season before this one and the club still posted a profit.

Someone is always going to lose, you can't have a business plan that relies solely on 'winning'.



Manshipkirk - yes there is less 'competition' in the market, but there are still other organisations out there competing for limited corp $$ - Cairns is still smaller than t'ville with a lower GDP.

Thanks guys,

I wasnt meaning simply copy Cairns, but there have to be some lessons there that other clubs can learn from as they have clearly got it right without needing to spend huge $$$ or have a mega rich owner.

The things KingPdge mentioned in his first post of

1) live within your means. Taipans don't use the cap or have large numbers of admin staff. It also means taking a punt of young players and developing a team - not buying one on paper.
2) 1000 hours this year in community engagement. On top of all the uncounted fan engagement.
3) Best practice corp governance model.
4) Engagement of sponsors and being really good at selling the Taipans narrative to them (and the wider community).
5) A lot of people putting in countless unpaid hours.

Is what i was sort of getting at, as some of these things are likely not being done as well at other clubs, ie as its been mentioned the 36ers didnt do aswell in fan engagement at times in the last few years, could they learn from how Cairns go about it? Im sure there are many other examples like this across the league.

Also the fact dont get caught up in spending big/blowing there budget in signing a 'big name' player, they buy the best they can for what they can afford and often means taking a punt on a younger guy, or someone who has had injuries/been let go by another team. I think thats something other clubs dont do aswell at times imo, they get too carried away signing 'big names' that either dont draw extra people, dont turn out to be as good and result in extra wins.

I have just been impressed with Cairn's franchise from afar and reckon there is plenty others could learn from how they go about things.

Spot on Issac.

those unpaid hours come from the board down to the guys handing out raffle tickets at the game.

And the Taipans do a lot of work engaging with jnr's - for example it's not uncommon to see Fearne helping with jnr coaching etc etc.

From the outside looking in:

1) live within your means. Taipans don't use the cap or have large numbers of admin staff. It also means taking a punt of young players and developing a team - not buying one on paper.
2) 1000 hours this year in community engagement. On top of all the uncounted fan engagement.
3) Best practice corp governance model.
4) Engagement of sponsors and being really good at selling the Taipans narrative to them (and the wider community).
5) A lot of people putting in countless unpaid hours.

No doubt there are always challenges - even with a great model - but they've shown they can adapt to circumstances and learn from past mistakes.

Create a good culture - hire good people - live within your means - Innovate - be accountable = success.

They didn't cut guys the fans love like the Crocs did which has lead to the dwindling crowd support.

Do Cairns even spend the full cap?? i remembered hearing a few years ago they didnt, but is that still the case.

They seem to do a good job of targeting young/cheaper talent even with there imports, that play the right way/fit in there system, instead of bidding for the big name guys.

Is that simply what they do better than some of the other clubs, that makes them more successful on the court and more profitable off the court?

Unbelievable win by the panthers, Kosmider hitting a 3 with 1 second left!