Hoops

NBL Sets New Season Attendance Record

So where are these big markets meant to be? Certainly not in Australia.

Brisbane have lost a lot of very winnable games, they're not too far off the mark.

I still remember that game against NZ last year where they lost despite never trailing.

NSEC should be blacklisted by the NBL.

NZ Breakers:
Seems they need a bit of a re-build to revitalise them again, as their crowds have been slowly dropping off. Maybe get rid of games at the horrible NSEC and have all matches at Spark? They seem to do OK there.

Too expensive. It's only NBL basketball.

Silver adult for Perth is $76.40. Bronze $50.95 Gold $117.15 Platinum $127.34

Wildcats released their public prices for finals. Same as Melb Utd's pricing for silver adult. Roughly $50+$5 for the BS Ticketek fees.

How does Adelaide compare?

I think #5 the end of an era had a lot to do with it.

I think Illawarra / Wollongong / Illawarra lost a bit of it's community appeal in the last few years. There has been a few notable things that stood out, not all the fault of the Hawks. The below are not in any order :

1) When they almost folded, they did 'something' with staff entitlements, I don't know exactly what but Gordie mentioned this on his way out that those actions were not in line with the Hawk's core values.

2) They brought in people like Jahii Carson and even paired him with Gary Ervin.

3) Gordie left.

4) They got rid of Dave Gruber.

5) Campbell and Savs retired.

6) The treatment of Cody Ellis.

But in saying that the Gong used to get 5k-6k for games that were 'big' for them (playoff games and derbies with Kings) for a solid 15 years from the time WIN Entertainment Centre opened.

But that too has slipped away dramatically in recent years. Their overall trend is down and worrying.

That's true.

When I was in Wollongong for the GF series Game 2 vs. Cats in 2010 that's what all their supporters admitted to. Direct quote: "We only come out when there are finals" LOL

fareweather fans by definition will come out and pay to watch their team in a final.

I thought United, like a lot of other clubs, were handing out a lot of freebies, i.e. to local basketball associations.

I will be in Melbourne and went on Ticketek to book a semi-final Game 1 ticket. Cost of cheapest which is bronze for adult $54. Hmmm, I thought Perth were the only ripoff place?

So Melbourne are doing well after all? Real tickets not just freebies? The price seems high because I assumed the following:

I thought over east NBL tickets are cheap as no one cares really. Their fans are fareweather and in it for an "event" not really passion for a team.

Thoughts?

"(Do they sell Kings merch? coz no one wears it)"

If I were a Kings Supporter, I would do my level best to hide the fact that I was a Kings supporter.

I Lived in Sydney for 3 years (came back Jan '17) and was able to travel and see the Cats play in Melbourne, Sydney and Illawarra.

Melb has great crowds, however its a Melbourne crowd... Melbournians will come out to watch 2 seagulls wrestling over a chip, much of their crowd had no interest in the game or result. that is not to diminish a large number who were loud and passionate. The real fans are great (many still wearing Tigers tops) but there is a lot of people who just rock up because there is no AFL on (crowds dropped by 3000 from first to second cats games when AFLX was on). Big crowd...50% passion.

Illawarra had a small crowd but big noise. Their fans are as loud and passionate as any in the league, but they sometimes go a bit far. we sat behind the away bench and some of the abuse being throw at Gleeson (warranted abuse I agree) was to a point where I wouldn't want my kid there. There isn't much else to do in the Gong so why don't people come along? maybe a joint Dragons/Hawks NRL/NBL membership deal? or merge them as 1 club?

King fans make Melbourne fans look like NBL scholars who live for the game. No Passion, No colour (Do they sell Kings merch? coz no one wears it). we saw the last game in the city and I reckon it was 70% full with a lot of people carrying paper tickets. when they moved out to Homebush we saw a few games out there as well, pathetic crowd with much of the seating covered. One time we were sitting next to a junior team (they call out the team and they get put on the screen) and I asked the coach if they paid or were given the tickets, they were given by the Kings... there would of been 10 of these teams. good to get the local kids out but its really fudging the crowd figures. an unknowledgeable announcer, an uncaring crowd, a poor DJ and Gimmicks (the sword in the stone??) made for a comical and embarrassing game night experience.

A little summary on the clubs not called Perth or Melbourne (as it seems all attendance based articles only ever mention those 2 clubs)

Illawarra Hawks:
Every year commentators always say how great the Illawarra Hawks are in the community. Their crowds for years have been horrible and to me don't reflect a great "community" club. They play in a decent sized stadium, are always competitive (even when they're down near the bottom) yet just can't get this so-called great community showing up to games.

They've been on the brink of collapse many times, and could head there again soon. Does something drastic need to happen, such as relocation to Sydney or Canberra? This isn't the broke incompetent NBL of 10 years ago, yet the Hawks are still drawing attendances that reflect those years. Might be time to give up on them I think, unless they are somehow making money from other streams.

Brisbane Bullets:
Still basically an expansion club that has finished bottom in their first 2 years. You can argue that the Bullets have always been around and are one of the great clubs, but they haven't been great - or even relevant - since the 90's. I think there is potential still in Brisbane. Give them a fan-freindly schedule, play more games at the Entertainment Centre, and if they can win more games I'd expect crowds to start showing up. 4000+ average should be attainable. Brisbane is also a very tough sports market. Not many clubs do well there unless you're the Broncos.

NZ Breakers:
Seems they need a bit of a re-build to revitalise them again, as their crowds have been slowly dropping off. Maybe get rid of games at the horrible NSEC and have all matches at Spark? They seem to do OK there. I also don't buy into their Thursday matches being that popular.

Cairns:
Nearly full houses every night. Great result for a community based regional club.

Sydney Kings:
Unbelievable crowds considering how awful they were all year (except towards the end) Maybe they just prefer the entertainment over winning?

Adelaide:
Hardly published their crowds, but it looks like they had a great year.

https://imgur.com/a/rN8AC

great work by whoever did this up.

No chance the Bullets crowds were as high as reported. Definitely lower than last season.

So even a 12 or 14 team NBL season with more regular season games saw less people actually go to games? I find that hard to believe.

https://imgur.com/a/rN8AC

great work by whoever did this up.

Not all boxscores list the crowd.

Couldn't u just get the figures from the box scores?

81,462 for Sydney.

NOthing, just surviving. If that.

"If they did that they would have to publicise Illawarra's and Brisbane's home crowds and I can understand why they wouldn't want to draw attention to them."

But if 2 teams constitute 43.5% of the attendance, that being :

- Wildcats - 183,689
- United - 8,293 x 14 = 116,102

= 299,791 / 688,712
= 43.5%

...wouldn't questions be asked as to what the other teams are doing with their crowds?

Perth and Melbourne and then daylight. So lopsided.

Nice totals, but the bulk of the recent growth has been from the teams that need it the least.
It's not something to be satisfied with IMO.

If they did that they would have to publicise Illawarra's and Brisbane's home crowds and I can understand why they wouldn't want to draw attention to them.

I would have liked a breakdown of the total crowd attendances by team.

Despite being 1 of 8 teams the Wildcats have more than a quarter of the total attendances. What do the other teams do?

In this day and age how on earth is there still not streams for every game???