Hoops

Taipans Homeless

I have a feeling LB is an entitled type

At least those taxpayer dollars will stop the Taipans from being trash which is a trait you abhor.

This is BS. Why should the taxpayers of Australia compensate the Taipans for something not of their fault?

I abhor entitlement.

Amazing effort by Coleen Lander. We'll done.

https://www.change.org/p/queensland-government-save-our-cairns-taipans

This was the email I received yesterday from the change.org petition

PETITION UPDATE
Result!
JUL 10, 2020
The Queensland Government is paying for the old Bunnings site in Cairns to be made into a pop up basketball court. It will have temporary seating, the court moved from the Convention Centre, air conditioning, TV grade lighting. It will seat 2000=2500 and the deficit in ticket revenue will be compensated.
The best result we could hope for next to the Convention Centre being available.
A Win for the people of Cairns.
Thanks for your support everyone!

Multiple rectangular stadiums need to be built aus and nz wide, we have plenty of round ones already.

Hawks playin Newcastle Wollongong, Canberra. Stupid...

Now you've got cairns moving to bunnings, maybe Townsville. Stupid.

Do they deserve anything better than a 2000 seat shack?

Cairns are in no place to make demands yet saw fit to refuse to relocate, refuse to do that.

The powers that be have been gracious enough to give Cairns an interim solution, something they were not bound by law to do at all.

Now can you afford Machado still? He can always come to Adelaide.

Hawks playin Newcastle Wollongong, Canberra. Stupid...

Now you’ve got cairns moving to bunnings, maybe Townsville. Stupid.

Heard Knox arena will be pushed back, could be 4-5 years before we see a home for the Phoenix.

2000 seats haha wtf

2000 seat lol.


The new ccc upgrade, does it include more seating?, hopefully it goes up a couple thousand to 7000-7500.

Tomorrow's paywall Cairns Post article:

New Cairns Taipans home court revealed

A brand new basketball arena is proposed to be built in FNQ to keep the Taipans in Cairns to start the upcoming NBL season.

(The old Bunnings building is being converted to make a 'pop-up' basketball stadium)

Advice today that we won't be able to get into the Convention Centre until February 4th...

Cairns could play in Illawarra. I would go to the original Snakepit to watch Cairns. And Mike Kelly has an Illawarra connection

Take a look at Conklin's actions and tell me they are natural human mechanics of landing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaby6lryByE

Creek is a tough nut and even he was staggering, he's no petal like Knight.

"Conklin wasn't sticking his elbows out, he was swinging them. He concussed three different players in the space of one season. Somehow every other big manages to muddle their way through seasons without even concussing one."

Except for Matt Knight, he managed to concuss himself every other game. :p

Conklin wasn't sticking his elbows out, he was swinging them. He concussed three different players in the space of one season. Somehow every other big manages to muddle their way through seasons without even concussing one.

Harping on the Conklin elbows. When you're taught as a big man you stick them out, guards fault if they run into them. Oh, that's right, in the age of everyone has to be friends and hug after games and unsportsmanlike fouls handed out all the time.
Tried to explain bumping the cutter recently, kid looked at me like I was a psychopath.

"If everyone new the stadium was getting refurbished at end of last season, why would you not have all the new seating, fridge equipment in the country as soon as the season finished. This is probably not Cairns fault but who ever runs the stadium has missed the boat." Why would anyone spend money before it's needed? New reno's equals a mess and where do you store all that stuff before it's required? They have done the right thing and Covid got in the way like it has for so many.

Considering chipping in some $ but curious what it is used for?

Would you mind signing this petition (if you haven't already done so)?

Thanks.

https://www.change.org/p/queensland-government-save-our-cairns-taipans?recruiter=3512920&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_petition&recruited_by_id=2a41e9e0-ccd8-012f-6951-4040acce234c

Is Dennis' Computers still in business? Crocs were lucky to have such a loyal sponsor.

I think Rod's probably sick of explaining this one:
- no money and high unemployment in TSV over the last 10-15 years = less discretionary spending + fewer sponsors and cashed up locals willing to pay for premo seats
- car parking disappeared, stadium almost impossible to get to by public transport and who wants to walk in the wet season
- Cowboys just kept growing

Shawn Dennis did a great interview on the Aussie Hoopla podcast that covers it in great detail.

There's still loads of interest in basketball locally, just look at the crowds they get to the QBL games and the number of quality players they push through the rep program. This won't translate into another NBL team anytime soon as the city has sky-high unemployment and all the local opportunities dried up.

If everyone new the stadium was getting refurbished at end of last season, why would you not have all the new seating, fridge equipment in the country as soon as the season finished. This is probably not Cairns fault but who ever runs the stadium has missed the boat.

Mid week games, poor management etc, that's all well and good but at the end of the day the support wasn't there.

Other clubs have been through the same at times. During the life of a club there would always be a time when management will make mistakes, the stadium deal will be poor etc and crowds will suffer.

Teams like Perth, Adelaide etc have had down days. They still manage a few thousand people a game. Enough to justify continuing and some ray of light. Townsville didn't.

I love Townsville when it was pumping, but don't blame the league, blame the lack of supporters when it mattered.

A lot of the supporters bailed after the free carpark access ended.

Yes he smashed Damian Martin's jaw then later almost concussed Mitch Creek.

Both players ran into his elbows of course.

Elbows Conklin, only lasted a season at hawks, doesn’t stay long at clubs, not certain why but always on the move. A bit of a journey man. Can’t see how he was going to be Townsville saviour.

Honest question, what did they do to screw over Conklin?

They turned their back on the team due to the poor management like screwing over their best player Brian Conklin who I think was the NBL MVP at the time too. The locals still support the Fire and their QBL team strongly.

The Blitz strategy was used at Townsville as well and got minimal support.

They moved back to the TEC in their last season, after the Blitz and it seemed there was 500 odd people at tip-off at their home opener from my view watching online. That was the death rattle right there.

Yes there was bad management, but it also seemed like the economics of Townsville changed and the core supporter base of basketball fans wasn't there to sustain the team.

That last season where they played out of the RSL stadium

Townsville crocs become defunct due to pis poor management

"Townsville people would show up if done right, ... and they could be responsible for assisting Townsville regain a team in the next 5 years."

The league already use that tactic with their Blitz in Tassie & Brisbane before that. Why not try it in T/ville? If Cairns' games in T/ville work, then maybe follow that up with a T/ville Blitz, and 2 years later, back in the league. If none of that is convincingly positive, and 2 tears later, stays out of the league.

Townsville people would show up if done right, Townsville crocs become defunct due to pis poor management they go from being a power house through the early and mid 2000's to dieting an extremely slow death, as the quality of the league went down and the quality of the team lowered the crocs prices sky rocketed, the game nights become boring outside of th basketball hence losing such a fan base, id have with no doubt if the crocs come back and was done right they would be successful, they just need a financial backer, by bringing cairns here for a few games im sure that would show, especially with ex tvs Mike Kelly coaching he will get followers, cairns are a team many didn't think would be good to watch but became very exciting to watch and they could be responsible for assisting Townsville regain a team in the next 5 years.

https://www.taipans.com/news/hon-curtis-pitt-and-taipans-president-troy-stone

Media Release is a video and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share it here.

"Hon. Curtis Pitt & Taipans President Troy Stone

CQUniversity Cairns Taipans President Troy Stone has stood with the Speaker of Queensland Parliament and Member for Mulgrave Curtis Pitt today regarding delays to the Cairns Convention Centre redevelopment, and the potential impacts on the Taipans’ 2020-21 NBL season.

Additional comments from NBL owner and Executive Chairman Larry Kestelman:

“The NBL and the Cairns Taipans are in discussions with the Queensland Government about the timing of the upgrade of the Cairns Convention Centre. While we welcome the redevelopment, we have asked the Government to schedule the relevant works after the NBL season is completed so as to minimise disruption for the Taipans and their fans.

“We intend to have fans back in venues when our season is scheduled to start later this year and the Convention Centre is the only viable venue to host NBL in Cairns and it would be disastrous for the competition and the community if it was not available. We look forward to reaching agreement with the Government as a matter of urgency to ensure that we can continue to bring world class sport and entertainment to the people of Cairns this season.”

What if there are existing contracts in place with time lines?

If I were the government I would refuse to move the construction if penalties are involved.

No media release as yet, but the headline from the Cairns Post is:

"Cairns Taipans rule out relocation

BASKETBALL The Cairns Taipans will not relocate for the NBL 2020-21 season as fears grow they will be left homeless this summer."

The article itself is behind a paywall, but partly says that the Taipans are working with the State Government to get some of the works re-scheduled.

If you have the option, here's the link (should work, I think):

https://www.cairnspost.com.au/sport/cairns-taipans-rule-out-relocation-for-nbl-as-home-court-upgraded

Dunno yet, Rod. I wasn't there. As soon as they make an announcement, I'll post it.

"Then why not stick with the current seating and freezers for now? Or... heaven forbid... get some local Australian ones!"

Because they're long gone. It's hard to renovate a stadium and leave the seating in place.

And you may just have to accept that globalisation is a thing now and that sometimes an overseas company can do things better than a local company. Just like we do some things better than they do.

Rod speaks the truth - we may not like each other but we like everyone else less, so we are always happy to band together against the rest of the nation :)

Seriously, we do work together, but forget any ideas about combining as an NQ team - the distance (400km) is too great.

And yeah, you can pack nearly 1000 people into the Fishtank, but not under social distancing regulations.

There will be a media conference this afternoon (Tuesday) at 1.00pm.

Open air games?

Apparently what happened is that the new seating on the upgrade is being ordered from Germany and the walk-in freezers come from France. The factories that make those items have closed down because of COVID-19 and are no longer able to get them finished and shipped out to Australia on schedule.

There are no other local venues. The Fishtank (Cairns basketball HQ/Taipans training venue) holds 300 and is basically a school gym.

If they can get the schedule right they can make it work. I'm sure there would be interest for a game or two in Townsville, especially if the Taipans can play a couple of higher-profile teams there. I also wonder whether the convention centre may be insured against delays and the Taipans may see some of this money.

Wouldn’t Taipans be the main tenant in the scheme of things? Why wouldn’t they just delay until August next year?

Townsville for a year would kill cairn’s financially.

It's already looking like the season will be pushed back a month so I hope that the damage won't be too drastic.

We have an uneven schedule where we play some teams only three times so could Cairns miss out on that home game this season (of the teams you play 3 times) and they get those back the season after ?

Or could Cairns have a heavily backended schedule with lots of double headers later in the season and lots of single game weekends until new year.

All the same to the Taipans, I wish you all the luck for the season ahead and even in your recruiting.

^ Koberulz is right... saw Nick Kay beginning his journey in that last season

Would the Taipans be playing in the Townsville Entertainment Centre or that shitty rec centre the Crocs played out their final days in?

The head of Townsville basketball was suggesting that Townsville had two suitable stadiums for the Taipans to play in. I was thinking no mate you've got one, possibly not even that.