Hoops

Lightning given 7 more days

Need to get the crowds and sponsorship flows from there. Start off with government backing and work from there.

Womens basketball is not competeing with netball but it is interesting to compare the numbers and mix of crowds.
Could be that netball is seen as safe - it is a female "only" area. ( as indicated by the percentage of males in the crowds) (Men going to netball are either family (or boyfriends) of players or they "must be a pervert".)Men at netball are way out numbered and so women and girls feel safe.
So mums take their daughters to the netball, hence the high pitch squeals in the crowd.
Mums don't take their daughters to the basketball. Its usually Dad's or whole families, but then if the whole family is going to go to the basketball they isually decide to go to the mens games which are faster, have higher profile players and all the razz a matazz!

"Yes a woman on hoops folks.."

Well strike me down with a feather. We did have a women on hoops before, but it ended up being Isaac in drag.

Government support is needed.

Corporate wise, women's sport does not appear to get the sponsorship like mens sport (esp AFL) There could be a few reasons for that, and maybe the crowd demographics might play a part. Could be the personality of the sportswomen?

I am actually surprised because females are responsible for an average of 75% of household spending and so marketers love to broadcast their message in a female friendly way (when you watch a TV advert, the trick is to look for the hair color of the females. Blonde = male product. Brunette = female product). The FMCG products that tend to be involved with women's sport are those family type products, whereas every AFL club has a car sponsor (male type product)

It would be nice to see a swag of sponsors get on board and back the Lightning, but with so many things challenging the marketing budget, they can't expect sponsors to back a team playing to an empty stadium. Need to see something in the business plan to get the crowd numbers up so the marketing is going to more than the parents, siblings and boy/girl friends of the players.

Part of the problem with spectator numbers is the attitude we have as a general society. Male sportspeople can be adorned by both sexes. A female fan can take a selfie with a male basketballer, post it on Facebook and they are a "passionate, loyal fan". A male fan who takes a selfie with a female basketball, posts it on Facebook is a "creep". This was evident recently in Melbourne where a man took a selfie at a shopping centre in front of a Darth Vader poster. Some paranoid lady thought he was trying to take a photo of her kids and so took a photo of him and posted it to Facebook calling him a creep.

Crowds at the NBL and AFL appear to be roughly 55:45 males to females, crowds at the netball probably 20:80 male to female. Netball spectators appear to be "mums and daughters", or "a day out with the chicks". It might be an issue bigger than the Lightning, but I think the crowd demographics affects sponsorship more than what people think.

As a result, Government support is needed.