Change is coming to the NBL, even if clubs are going

Players from both the Sydney Spirit and Cairns Taipans are seeing out the season on half their normal salaries. Both clubs saw their owners pull out mid-season.

In the offseason, both the Brisbane Bullets and Sydney Kings – iconic NBL franchises – had their owners pull out.

The Singapore Slingers also ditched the league during the offseason in favour of playing exhibition games around Asia, with less of a travel burden.

Of course, in a lot of these cases it was external factors which forced the hand of ownership. Bullets owner Eddy Groves was the head of ABC Learning. Kings owner Tim Johnston was the infamous boss of Firepower.

But that doesn’t changed the fact none of the aforementioned clubs were profitable.

It’s no surprise new owners couldn’t be found on short notice. It’s no surprise that once money was tight with owners – highlighted recently by the effect of the global financial crisis on Taipans owner John O’Brien and his auto business – they could no longer justify propping up an NBL team.

There’s no denying the NBL is in a sad state.

But, thankfully, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Things are about to change.

Even though the media may not give it the same level of publicity as it does to the financial ruin of an NBL club, there is actually a lot of hype behind the scenes about basketball.

Much like football and its Crawford Report, a review has been tabled outlining the future direction of the sport.

This includes disbanding the NBL at the end of this season and replacing it with a new national league. The new competition, somewhat resembling the hypothetical love child of the A-League and netball’s ANZ Championship, will be launched next year.

It will address the issue of how community engagement fell by the wayside when the sport was at its peak. Plus, in lieu of recent troubles, no owner will be able to own more than 40% of a club.

Structurally, the new league will be sounder. The previous set-up saw a league run by the clubs for the clubs. Now, a new-look Basketball Australia will oversee the competition.

It is daring to suggest that basketball can return to the glory days. But it must be said, the foundations are stronger than most assume.

The state of the game is healthy at a grassroots level, with more people playing basketball in Australia than AFL.

At the national team level, Australia is ranked by FIBA as the second-best nation in the world across both genders. The Opals are the reigning world champions.

Australian basketball continues to produce world-class players. From number one NBA draft picks (Andrew Bogut) to college sensations (Patty Mills), the flow of talent never seems to stop.

There is also the possibility of much stronger engagement with Asia. The fact basketball is the number one sport in China has already grabbed the attention of Kevin Rudd, who was recently named patron of the Boomers along with his wife as patron of the Opals.

All that is truly missing is a strong national league and marketable national teams.

It’ll be a massive challenge to turn the state of those around, yet even then there are still positive foundations to build off.

The Melbourne derby, currently the only such rivalry in the city, pulled close to 10,000 earlier this year and should the two teams meet in the playoffs, Rod Laver Arena may be called upon.

The 36ers still have a strong presence in Adelaide and the Perth Wildcats regularly sell out their 4,500-seat venue.

As I’ve stated here before, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing so far and some big calls still need to be made. A lot of work needs to be done to make the sport relevant again in New South Wales and Southeast Queensland, two crucial markets for any sport.

But basketball deserves credit for taking the measures it has to rectify the poor state it finds itself in at the elite level.

They’re undoubtedly taking steps in the right direction.