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It was once the country’s hottest sport, but in recent years Australian basketball has taken a turn for the worse. The revamped National Basketball League and a refurbished governance structure may well be the last roll of the dice for the sport in Australia.
The latest reincarnation of Australian basketball features a restructured national competition comprising a reduced 8 team format, a fresh faced Fox Sports commentating team and a returning championship winning coach. It may not be the ultimate marketing dream, but is the formula that Basketball Australia hopes will recapture the hearts and minds of the Australian public.
It has been a tumultuous 18 months for the struggling national competition.
The demise of two of the League’s most recognisable clubs, the Sydney Kings and the Brisbane Bullets, dwindling crowds and financial concerns saw Basketball Australia summon a complete overhaul of the sport.
Amidst all the turmoil, it is difficult to comprehend that little over a decade ago the sport was flourishing. Games were played in front of sold-out crowds at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and Rod Laver Arena.
Australian basketball players were household names and both NBL and NBA games were on free-to-air television.
So where did it all go wrong for Australian Basketball?
Former Sydney Kings and Australian Boomer’s captain, Jason Smith, believes the sport is a victim of its own success and had shifted away from the model that served it so well.
“Back in those days, not just American culture but American sports had a big influx within Australia with the NBA having a massive propulsion on the market. NBA stars such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird really helped promote the game internationally.
“We saw the sport rise is popularity and successful NBL teams were a by-product of that, they really rode that wave.
“That’s one thing about privatisation, you have an owner that is entitled to all financial rewards, but they’re lining their pockets without investing into the future of the league, and then the wave finally stopped.
That’s an issue that NBL clubs and the League failed to foresee and it’s probably cost us now.”
The sport’s demise can be traced to a number of key determining factors.
An inability to effectively market its product, combined with games not televised on free to-air television has seen the sport forego multi-million dollar sponsorship deals and lose public exposure.
“I do believe in the Privatisation model (for NBL teams) because owners know their markets more specifically more than an over-view model. In saying that I think the NBL has an obligation and responsibility to inject funds into the sport and into the League by negotiating deals with a major Sponsor and also commercial television rights and Pay TV rights which could mean a huge injection of capital,” Smith states.
“In regards to skill and the actual game itself, the product is definitely better now, maybe the presentation isn’t. I think the presentation of the sport to the Australian public needs to be revisited. I think the game night entertainment was better produced back in those days; it’s probably presented more to a basketball purist point-of-view now. I think it can be definitely enhanced.
“When I was with the Kings for those 5 years I knew we weren’t being involved in the community as much as they had in previous years when the sport was doing well. I think that’s another fundamental issue that the league needs to reinvent.”
In recent times, the sport has been dealt an even further blow, with Australian football, or soccer as it was once known, exploding on to the Australian sporting scene.
Football’s ever growing popularity along with the competitive sporting climate has many pundits speculating on the sport’s future.
“I think we’ve got a long road ahead,” says former NBL head and assistant coach Mark Watkins.
“You can see the AFL certainly taking over the country with their marketing and so forth, soccer is certainly making big waves in Australia now, and then you have the (rugby) union as well and also the netball is starting to do well with TV coverage.
“Add cricket into the equation and I think basketball is starting to become a lesser sport, I don’t really know where it’s heading. I hope for basketball’s sake it does continue and hopefully get better as the years go on.”
Basketball Australia’s restructuring of the NBL has come under fire since the season’s commencement, with many believing the league should have taken a one year hiatus.
Watkins, a former head and assistant coach with the West Sydney Razorbacks and Gold Coast Blaze, is one of them.
“I would have liked to see the NBL have a season off and revamp and waited for a Sydney team to be in there, and maybe if not, a Brisbane or another side back in Melbourne.
“They really haven’t restructured at all, they’re still the NBL. All they’ve really done has changed the logo.”
“Hopefully though, they’ve structured the teams well enough that we don’t see a team go broke half-way through the season. I guess only time will tell whether they’ve made the right decisions there or not.”
Throughout its 32 year history, the NBL has witnessed almost 70 per cent of its teams go under. A grand total of 17 out of 25 to have taken to the court have come and gone since the league’s inception in 1979.
Another uphill battle facing the sport is the increasing number of young talent leaving Australia soil to further their careers in the American college system.
Watkins, who is now player and development manager with Basketball NSW, believes that the amount of players going to the US is hindering the development of the NBL.
“I believe the junior programs in Australia are producing good kids and it’s unfortunate over recent times a lot of those good kids, instead of going in to the NBL and WNBL, they’re taking the (US) college path which is taking away those young boys and girls away from the Australian professional leagues.
“So we’re seeing the older guys now staying in the NBL longer because of that, as there’s not that influx of younger guys coming into teams in the NBL.”
Watkins does maintain the quality of the younger players coming through the ranks is encouraging and should keep Australian basketball at a strong level going forward.
“As far as what’s happening at the grass-roots level is concerned junior coaches around the country are doing a great job and we’re producing a very good product.
“Our status in both junior men and junior woman Under 20’s and Under 23’s sides are top four in the world in all those categories so for our population, players per capita, we’re doing a very good job.”
Like the NBL, the WNBL has felt the ramifications of not being firmly placed in the public eye and according to former Olympian and WNBL Championship winner Annie La Fleur, more needs to be done to increase the popularity of the sport.
“You need money to market, and you need sponsorship so that’s the biggest thing I think. And with the financial crisis right now not a lot of people are putting money into sponsorship and especially not into basketball that’s for sure.
“They need more sponsorship, they need more money, I know the netball have taken over most of the basketball’s sponsorship revenue, so I think they’ve got to get out there and do some more marketing to really lift the sport back up again.”
La Fleur, who won a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics with the Australian woman’s national side, is adamant that it isn’t all doom and gloom for Australian basketball.
“I know when I was playing basketball and the WNBL was very popular, we played in the same arena as the Kings so it was probably more advertised because we were piggy backing the guys,” she states.
“At the men’s level I think there are some problems but as far as the woman is concerned, I think moving away from the men’s program and getting away from the men’s venues and getting out own venues, smaller ones, has really kept us going.
“You’ve now got players like Lauren Jackson and Penny Taylor, and their names are world-wide names, it’s like everyone knows who they are, so I think the woman are doing well and doing their own thing.”
Needless to say, the triumphs at the women’s level and the reinvigorated NBL have many confident that Australian Basketball will once again reign supreme in the country’s saturated sporting market. One of them is duel Olympian Jason Smith.
“There’s no doubt that the sport is at one of the lowest points or its lowest point in its history. But do I think it can it bounce back? Yes. Will it take hard work? Yes. Do we have the people in place to compensate for where we are? I don’t’ know, that is the big question.
“I think in its proper place basketball has the potential to be about 3rd or 4th in the tier of professional sports in Australia.
“I think it’s still seen as an ‘American’ sport which has some negative connotations attached to it. I think the bigger sports such as NRL and AFL are a part of our culture and are loved by all. I think basketball will settle somewhere below them.
“I do believe the sport is in a similar position that soccer in Australia was in a few years ago and I think it has the ability and potential to catapult in front of soccer in Australia, however it is going to take a lot of work.
“To have some sort of financial backing to the league, similar to the Frank Lowy situation in soccer, is key. If we can attract someone like that or just having the ability to build the NBL brand and build the league to that kind of point I think we’ll be fine.”
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