Hoops

Viable NBL expansion beside Tasmania

And to be fair, there should be no team in Melbourne since the Tigers failed and had to be bailed out and rebranded.

Sydney Olympic Park is certainly not in the west of Sydney, maybe 60 years ago, now inner west city fringes. Blacktown would be the centre of Sydney and has a large African community and good basketball area but no decent stadium.

"Western Sydney don't have a stadium though. Basketball stadiums in Sydney are third rate. NSW government give to much money to rugby league stadiums to see them empty except for one origin game and The GF. "

They need a decent home-base. Somewhere to a professional standard, to train and host the odd pre-season game.

I don't know Sydney well enough to comment with any authority, but I do find it funny, because Olympic Park is actually part of Paramatta, and some Kings fans regard that as already being in "West Sydney." LOL

A West Sydney team would have to play its games at the State Sports Centre and Qudos, just like the Kings. I would imagine that train and motorway access would be as good as anywhere??

"Worked so well b4 didn't it"

So, to follow your logic...
There should be no Tasmanian team;
SEM Phoenix should not exist;
Brisbane Bullets should have been brought back;
Neither should the Sydney Kings;
Hawks and Taipans should be gone since they would have failed without league support;
And to be fair, there should be no team in Melbourne since the Tigers failed and had to be bailed out and rebranded.
Furthermore, the Wildcats would not exist today without the support of a Dr Jack and the government, concepts you apparently reject.
So that leaves Adelaide and the Breakers. Have fun with that.

Hobart 21/22
Wellington 23/24
Canberra 25/26

Stop

Team 13 after 2030.

I tend to agree with the wait and consolidate what we will have once Tasmania enters the NBL, with 10 teams it is a viable league and the NBL1 is there to judge who may be the next suitor, but for now, I would consolidate with 10 teams and not get too carried away...

Excellent work robt
To much common sense there for most to understand.

Anon 765029, you wrote:

"West Sydney. What a joke.
You know the history don't you? Bankstown Bruins, West Sydney Westars, Razorbacks."
You could add Nunnawading, Coburg, Geelong, Tassie (Devils), Canberra, Forestville, Gold Coast, Townsville, Newcastle.... that will do, to your list and finish off with nearly the whole of the NBL.

Firstly, do you really want history deciding your future?

Secondly, your final question .. "Seriously what had changed?"

For the league.
*A tremendous Lazarus-style comeback from near annihilation.
*A fabulous WC campaign for the Boomers.
*Fabulous prospects for the Tokyo games.
*LK
*A great couple of years of NBL comp, starting with last year's 4 x OT game between predicted 1st and last place holders all the way through to last night's 2 upsets.
*Tassie expansion plans.
*Tassie's staging of the Blitz.
*Vastly increased numbers in attendances, domestic and international viewers.
*Expansion happening now, and with lots of up-front support (LK, again).
*Commercially, Sydney, numerically the biggest market, desperately needs a second team (3rd, if you include Illawarra).

For Sydney.
*Bogut (playing)
*Bogut (ownership)
*Qudos (filling up with up to 17,000+)
*Hawks generating immense publicity
*Hawks v Kings already becoming a featured rivalry (Lamelo)
*Slightly improved attendances for the Hawks (Lamelo)

I think people are asking the wrong question:

If you're asking what new locations can organically and sustainably support an NBL franchise, then the answer is probably "nowhere."

If you were to ask what locations COULD support a franchise with the right funding, then there are too many possibilities.

The real Q&A lies somewhere in between the two.

LK apparently wants 12 teams. Not a bad number for a sustainable league.
So I think the question is twofold:
Where does the NBL WANT the 3 extra teams to be, and
Where will the necessary money emerge?

It's nice that he is pushing so hard for a Tassie team. I have always thought they should have had an AFL team, but the AFL are jerks. So its nice of LK to give them their own State Team.
So lets assume that's a goer, and that leaves us with two more teams to place.

I like the idea of a 2nd NZ team, but i just don't see it happening. Certainly not as a priority for one of the two remaining slots. I see NZ focus as being on expanding and solidifying the NZBL, whilst keeping the Breakers as THE NZ team.

I think that a 2nd Sydney team is a foregone conclusion, at some point. But they will need some government cash to upgrade or a replace a decent home base & training venue.

They do every year, Melbourne win tomorrow it’ll be 25% of the crowd, I know I’ve been a benefactor of it many times

No, be good spot for 6 to 8 thousand seat stadium at Liverpool.

Western Sydney don’t have a stadium though. Basketball stadiums in Sydney are third rate. NSW government give to much money to rugby league stadiums to see them empty except for one origin game and The GF. If Melbourne make GF tonight against Canberra they will be giving half the tickets away yet basketball gets f..k all.

I’d like to see Wellington for that NZ rivalry. Can’t see Canberra managing to sustain a team.

Yeah he foresees another vic club minimum and potentially another Perth one.

I don’t agree with a league style attempt at 3 Victorian and nsw clubs, certainly don’t view WA having two clubs despite wildcats success

No more than 10 teams in the NBL, not enough supporters or talent

It wouldn't work. Dockers fans follow the Wildcats if they are into NBL.

I like, very much, the idea of a couple of teams in markets that are big enough and that can afford it. Therefore Sydney (proper, as opposed to Illawarra or even Newcastle or Canberra) makes sense to me.

However, I wonder why Perth, say Fremantle, isn't discussed. Here's why I like that Idea.

Recently, there has been talk of AFL getting inolved with the NBL. There is already a WA SBL team there, the Dockers, would you believe (part of the AFL club?)? Here's a great chance to try it. Free-o already have a football following who may take up NBL in the summer.Out of both the AFL's and NBL's heartlands, the experiment can be viewed from afar, so to speak, minimising risk if not successful (rather than trying it in Melb, the heartland of both codes).

Perth are so strong, with 12,000+ at home games, stable as, a great record and obviously a very well run club all round. For another club to compete with that they would have to be as "good", all round, or no-one would take notice of the "new" team. The Dockers would already have the infrastructure and management team who could run or direct that side of things.

Free-o is less than an hour from Perth but many would-be NBL fans may not bother (some people!?) or maybe can't make the early game times (due to TV schedules for the eastern markets).

The Wildcats have done, and are doing a fabulous job in the west. I reckon they deserve and would welcome a local rival.

The obvious question is, is Perth a big enough market for 2 teams? My only answer to that is that they support 2 AFL teams. Reckon that that would be a tougher gig.

For similar reasons, I favour a Wellington entry ('cept they don't have an AFL team, yet).

Perthworld, what do you think? Could you stand another club?

The a league is weaker with more teams, there is less money. LK is right slowly, slowly, get sides that going to be there long term, already Cairns and Illawarra struggling with the extra spend.
Tasmanian and Wellington should cap it off for a while, a good eleven team competition of three time against each opponent, alternate years gets the home court advantage. Thirty rounds plus finals and a five team semifinals.

Considering the popularity growth with basketball at the moment, why don't we see more interest in new teams ??
I look on with envy, as the A-League announces prospective new licences, and bids fall over themselves, presenting new stadiums, clubs etc.

Most recently they had bids from South Melb, SE Melb, West Melbourne, and a couple in NSW, and QLD I think, for only two licenses. The bids presented looked amazing.

Is it history scaring people off doing the same for NBL ? Even with LK doing a great job ?

Wellington is pursuing ASEAN, in part because the NBL has rebuffed them too many times to count. Also weary of how much revenue they can make with a craptastic 4,500 seat arena.

There are some big regional areas in nsw, they are starved of any sport. Coffs Harbour used to be a big basketball centre. Not convinced any more teams in Melbourne will work, maybe Bendigo. Wellington from NZ, like the idea of Jakarta as well, 7 hours from Melbourne. The first place should be Tasmania.

Interestingly the A-League have recently added a team from that area - West Melbourne/Geelong.

The Capitols seem to do ok in the WNBL??

I wonder how much overlap there is between the "you can't even name a competitive team of leftover NBL players" and "players x,y,z deserve to be in the NBL more than players a,b,c" types.

Indonesia has a humongous population, and they are very patriotic, so there should be enough support there for a team. Plus that population should produce a few decent prospects.

Need an arena in Darwin to get a team there (I think they've got a 1300 seat stadium but that's not really big enough) . Based on a criteria of at least a 3000 seat arena (maybe a little small) in Australia we could go...
Ballarat (3000 seat arena)
Bendigo (4000)
Newcastle (4500)
Canberra (5000)
Gold Coast (5300)
Townsville (5300)

I don't think we're going back to the last 2 anytime soon, Newcastle and Canberra make some sense. Bendigo and Ballarat are getting a bit on the small size.

Probably look in New Zealand who have more arenas that don't have an NBL team.

Darwin has a gap in there sporting conscious at the moment as the NT thunder are getting shutdown by the AFL