In our increasingly globalised world, sports synonymous with a certain culture are facing increasing competition from international sports.
Worldwide presence is on the agenda of most administrative bodies as the concept of the ‘world game’ is moving further away from only soccer.
Strongest with AFL, rugby and cricket, the Australian sporting economy has made mild drives into the soccer (A-League) and basketball (NBL) markets. More recently, the establishment of the Australian Baseball League (ABL) and Ice Hockey Australia (IHA) have mustered local interest in baseball and ice hockey.
Establishing semi-professional leagues for basketball, baseball and ice hockey, foundation was cast after recognising a market for it in Australia. Although quality and financial standing cannot compare to their North American counterparts – a distant way down the track – they could be one day.
In a bid to increase revenue, two major forms of sports promotion are in practice locally. The first is to market the sport itself. This requires the compliance of the dominant markets and in this sense, Major League Baseball (MBL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) must all be exposed to Australian audiences before our local leagues.
Take the English Premier League (EPL) and its importance to the A-League, for example. Soccer fans did not start their spectatorship as A-League fans. Fans take an interest most likely in the EPL or international teams before they consider the A-League. Excellent television coverage, newspapers coverage and specialised programming enables this.
The second form is to promote the league, which proves more difficult. Rather than promoting the sports best, it attempts to draw audiences to the lesser league, the Australian league. Newcomers learn and support a weak form of competition which may seem amateurish. In turn, interest may be lost quickly as passion cannot be sustained.
The establishment of OneHD has significantly strengthened NFL and NBA audiences in Australia. Only the start, success hinders on further platforms of media. The lack of local funding will never draw international talent therefore always reign inferior to professional counterparts.
Increasing local funding is an unsustainable solution as self-sufficiency rests on a strong supporter base. To build this, the sport itself must be promoted before the league.
For the NBL, ABL and IHA to develop, Australian coverage of the NBA, MBL and NHL must increase. Australian leagues are helpless alone. Due to the substantial difference between Australian and American leagues, promoting local leagues alone is bound for failure.
Free-to-air broadcasting, consistent major newspaper journalism and specialised programming of the American leagues will make Australian leagues more marketable in the future.
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