Jeremy Loeliger talks to The Roar about an incredible NBL season

The NBL finals are just around the corner, and it has been a season to remember for the reborn league, with the closest competition in history, crowds on the up and everything falling into place for further improvement in years to come.

Playing a big part of the NBL’s success has been the Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Loeliger, along with executive director Larry Kestelman.

Talking to The Roar, Jeremy discussed everything from crowds to TV, expansion, the incredible season that has been, the upcoming finals series and what’s to come in the future.

Crowds and venues
“It’s been a satisfying season both on and off the court. We have broken all of our previous attendance records, with 665,000 people attending. We have also had regular sell-out crowds in Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide, while Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, the Illawarra Hawks and New Zealand have shown positive growth,” said Mr Loeliger.

When asked about which attendance records the league had broken this season, the reply was “All of them.”

“The atmosphere the clubs have created at games this year keeps fans coming back, and the Sydney Kings breaking the all-time New South Wales record for a standalone game was fantastic. The atmosphere was brilliant and I would think every fan at that game would consider returning to a game in the future.”

While Mr Loeliger said the NBL still has a long way to go to re-establishing the success of the late 1980s and early 1990s, this season has been a giant stepping stone and the statistics will prove that.

The NBL have recorded their highest ever average attendance this season, beating the 1994 season by an average of almost 200 per game, while crowds were up 20 per cent compared to the 2015-16 season.

Mr Loeliger said he was most proud of the league nearly breaking their round record, although had their been more than seven games in the weekend, it would have been smashed.

The idea of bigger venues for certain teams with them available – the Brisbane Bullets and Adelaide 36ers was also raised, however the NBL CEO said it’s a difficult balancing act.

“Using Brisbane as an example, the Entertainment Centre is not in a good location which may make fans turn away. We want our games to be played in full stadiums and to build loyalty with fans for stability, which is what we have at the Convention Centre. Melbourne as well – we could use Rod Laver Arena across the road, but it hasn’t got a great configuration for basketball which may turn fans away. It’s a double-edged sword really.”

TV deal, production and NBL.TV
The NBL held their own production this season, and Mr Loeliger said he was extremely impressed with the product the NBL put on display every week.

“The production has looked and felt fantastic throughout the season. We have been able to implement some technology into the broadcast which we want to continue rolling out next year.”

“What we have to realise is there’s still a long way to go. The production still lags behind every other aspect of improvement we have seen, but ratings are up 30 per cent on last year which is fantastic.”

The NBL also streamed games into India and China this year and while the CEO said numbers were hard to get out of India, with very little promotion numbers have flown off the chart in China.

“Aggregate streaming in China has actually been more than Australia, with six million views of the NBL. Our all-NBL visit to China last year was a big part in this and with direct relevance thanks to the new World Cup qualification system, Chinese people are keen to see what the league has to offer.”

Delving further into the statistics, NBL.TV has had 51,000 subscribers and the NBL app has had over 60,000 downloads since the start of the season, well and truly beating the numbers of last season.

Future endeavours with Asia, the NBA and expansion
Mr Loeliger said he is expecting the NBL to continue growing as a competition and product next season, and their endeavours in Asia and America have a big part to play in this.

With streaming of the competition offered into both China and India, the market for growth among a rabid Basketball following is enormous.

“Expansion must be sustainable. We don’t want to rush into things, and the way expansion works in the NBL is very different to how it once did,” said Mr Loeliger.

“International expansion is a priority of the NBL, with China and the Philippines at the top of the list. Commercially, it’s important we tap into the Asian marker, however it’s also key that Asia becomes a global player in basketball, so the NBL needs to do their part in helping this improvement.”

“The model would be for the team to be headquartered in Australia, playing half their games in Asia to limit travel for not only Australian clubs, but the Asian-based clubs. Let me assure you, those games would sell-out.”

The idea of domestic expansion in the league is a little more reserved though, with the NBL not wanting to lessen the quality of the competition, or repeat past mistakes when it comes to expansion.

“Domestic expansion won’t happen next season, although it’s likely to in the next few years. We need to ensure it’s sustainable and won’t dilute the talent pool which has put on such a great competition this season.”

The finals
One of the key changes to this season’s finals series is that the grand final will be a five-match series instead of the three we have seen for most of the last decade.

When asked about the motives behind a five-game grand final series, Jeremy said it was simple.

“While travel becomes an issue trying to cram so many games into a short schedule, the excitment of last year’s grand-final series made the decision to extend this season’s easy. It felt like the Wildcats-Breakers series shouldn’t have been over after three.”

“Having a five-game series allows for a rivalry to build and it’s something we are very excited to see play out.”

Mr Loeliger was a little less receptive of the idea for a five-game semi-final series though, citing travel and player fatigue as issues, as well as cost.

“It’s about taking baby steps. We don’t want to rush anything and when you consider the cost and travel associated, plus player fatigue at this point it’s not something we have got a plan in place for. It’s certainly not off the cards though.”

The NBL finals series begins on Thursday night with the Adelaide 36ers taking on the Illawarra Hawks before the Cairns Taipans host the Perth Wildcats on Friday.

Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde