basketball
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.”
Fly on the Wall
Guest
ABC's Coodabeen Champions call basketball "the nonsense" and I couldn't agree more. Start at 97-all and play for one minute. Mindless repetition. No wonder it has bombed - people saw through the hype after a while - it was really only Michael Jordan who kept the game alive here.
Republican
Guest
I believe the African American image that is integral to Basketball above all other US codes, has made it a very popular game amongst the youth of the west and Aust is no exception in this respect. Perhaps 'image' is just not enough in sustaining a game so entrenched in US culture despite Australia's obvious compatibility and affinity with most things American. Cheers
Gaff
Guest
or the mighty QLD cricket team. I still live in hope that Basketball will reach the heights it did when I was in school. With 4 Aussies in the NBA and some of their games being shown live on free to air TV, it's a start.
True Tah
Guest
sledgeross when I was at high school at the 90s, when you talked about Bulls, you could only mean Chicago Bulls. Nowawadays, some people might think you are talking about a South African rugby team.
Simmo
Guest
But families are the most fickle part of a fanbase. They need the most work to get them to turn up the first time. They're also far less likely to turn live sport into a regular habit than say late teens, twenty-somethings.
cosmos forever
Guest
that's rubbish - all major codes have spent the past 20 years repositioning their games to have a broader base. Pitching your entire code at aggressive tribalism might work if you have 120 years of history - not so smart for young competitions. Basketball was at it's highest point in this country when it was one of the few codes that was a family outing. It was ahead of it;s time in that regard.
sledgeross
Guest
Jason Smith makes a good point. When I was in Primary school in the late 80s' every year we had the likes of Steve Carfino, Tim Morrissey, Mark Dalton etc come and do a clinic at our school. They would do some dunks, spin the ball on their finger and show some dribbling skills. Most kids would then play basketball at lunchtime, and its the reason why me and my mates all started playing in comps down at bankstown basketball stadium. As a result, I badgered my parents to taking to top the SEC to see the Kings play. Seeing the likes of Ken McClary, Leon Trimmingham and my fave "The D-Train" Dwayne McClain play some epic games against the quality imports such as Lanard Copeland, Adrian Branch, Bobby Locke, Steve Hood etc meant the games were fantastic to watch, coupled with a tremendous atmosphere. It was the hottest ticket in town. Then Jordan retired (a few times), NBA action wasnt shown on channel 10, and Steve Carfino and Bill Woods moved on to pastures new. Arrogant administrators lost touch with the punters, and there were less bums on seats. Its a shame, I like my basketball, and would still go to Kings games at least once a year.
Simmo
Guest
I'd say constant re-inforcement is needed. Through friends, family, TV, radio etc.
Gaff
Guest
NBL needs to be shown on free to air TV. As there is not enough basketball shown to the masses. Live NBA games being shown on One HD, and all the NBA highlight type shows, will do good for basketball popularity, but we need to see the Aussies. There are plenty of people who play the game in this country, we just need to have those that play support our national league. The WNBL have games on ABC, and I watch it (but I'm a basketball junkie who watches and records any basketball shown on free to air TV). If you ask people from Perth and Wooloongong, they will tell you that Basketball is thriving. Both those teams do a great job of using social media sites to promote their team and the NBL and have sell out crowds who are pasionate.
Gibbo
Guest
agreed - this promotion of the american domestic cometition over international matches really narrows the focus of bball and i reckon it's hurt the sport. but as a North Melbourne Giants fan i'm really enjoying the current season - sure, we're still defunct but the Tigers are playing woefully!
M1tch
Roar Guru
Exactly, they needed to take a year off and rethink. No Sydney or Bris team is simply crazy and they've lost many fans.
JiMMM
Guest
The problem as I see it is that the NBL will always be viewed as a second rate comp when compared to the NBA and college ball (the womens game has less of this problem as internationals are seen as the pinicle of the sport there). It works well as a starting point to to feed of a bigger comp to promote the sport initially, but without a massive participation base like soccer it cannot remain as one of the first teir of professional sports, and it was that lack or ambition to improve the sport massively (mixed with quite a bit of overblown belief of where the sport stood in the Australian psychie) that led to the downfall of the NBL. And short a massive revival of interest in the NBA, Basketball will at best remain in the second tier of pro sports in Australia.
Michael C
Roar Guru
Basketball disproves a lot of the pro-soccer rhetoric, i.e. you need to be international, i.e. vast grass roots must equate to elite domestic code success, i.e. moving to summer can a sporting power create, i.e. private ownership is a good thing, i.e. the best theoretical geographic spread makes you a national power. Obviously there've been mistakes along the way - but, theoretically great ingrediants haven't made a terribly flash cake..... ....MacArthurs Park is melting, and I've never have that recipe again...... Seriously though, having no Brisbane or Sydney team this year and losing the reigning premier in the Dragons was horrendous. btw - soccers ever growing popularity is debatable given V4 and V5 from crowds perspective, struggling clubs and dubious business models (i.e. a given that private owners aren't going to make money). The danger for soccer is that it's trajectory seems to be trending more towards the post-boom basketball downward-curve.
Brian
Guest
I thikn Bball made a mistake by basing itself as an American sport and making only limited effort to encourage support for the Boomers. They seem to have completely forgotten that Basketball is one of the biggest sports in Europe and that the Boomers have great games at World Champs and Olympic levels. AFL & NRL aside I think too many sports think they need a successful league to be a presence. Cricket seems to be the only one that has accepted that people will not follow their comp but as long as they go for Australia that's fine. Football does have its A League problems but still has open arms to those who will follow the Socceroos. Likewise the Wallabies. Bball never made this connection even though the Boomers are on par with a lot of strong European nations. I think at the last Olympics the Boomers played the dream team in a QF and channel 7 prefered to show the Bronze match for Softball. If people don't care for the Boomers how will you ever get them to go see domestic club sides?
Pippinu
Roar Guru
That's an interesting comment - noting that the A-League does attract a youngish clientele (broadly speaking). The conventional wisdom once would have been that kids are indoctrinated into the game - and follow it for life - but maybe that model isn't as rock solid as it may have been a few decades ago. Or maybe, the indoctrination only works where there is a critical mass of concentrated support- the indoctrination isn't as permanent if support for the sport is more diffused.
Savvas Tzionis
Guest
The problem with basketball is that it was too family oriented. The people want blood and guts!! The kids who turned on to it grew up and matured into adults. Take note, FFA with your draconian anti-fun laws at games!!!
True Tah
Guest
The NBL paid the price for having its teams associated with Tim Johnstone and Eddy Groves.
Redb
Roar Guru
I was pleased to see the NBL survive as a Melb Tigers fan and will attend games over the season. Probably the most encouraging aspect is that the competition still managed to get up and running when all looked lost. The halycon days are long gone but basketball can still sit in the 2nd tier in Australia. Redb
Robbo
Guest
The "new competition" didn't really happen did it? As far as I can tell they just kicked out the best team and changed the competitions logo.
bruski
Roar Pro
I believe that bball as a sport is in a lot better spot than what it could have been and where it was in the off-season. The product is great to watch, the games are close and there is a lot of skill on show! I think the game is on the way back big time and it will again be one of the premier sports in the country, no doubt. I also agree that the last year has been handled badly but was primarly due to the Global Financial Crisis. It was interesting to see your views on Soccer and Rugby. I would have to disagree with you whole-heartadly in regards to Soccer making an impact in this country. If you look at the latest fiasco's wiith GCU and extremely poor crowd numbers the game in Australia is on the ropes with no end in site. The only Soccer team that commands a crowd and eyeballs on the TV is the Socceroos.. Rugby is a different story, whilst the Wallabies are struggling and our Super 14 teams are not making the finals the crowds and TV audience also drops. This will be turned around though with a succesfull season, if only we could get one. It is also played in the bball off-season. (except for a handful of S14 games) That leaves League and AFL, both popular but only one is a natural competition for players and that is the AFL, luckily for bball it is played in it's off-season so there is really no competition for crowds. The only competition that bball has is Soccer and Cricket and again, Soccer fans generally do not go to the basketball, they just stay at home and watch Euro Soccer. :) Go the Blaze!! Bruski.