This year, there has been controversy surrounding the rivalry between the National Basketball League and the A-League.
As a fan of both sports – albeit heavily favouring football over basketball – I am in a great position to unpack things the NBL does better than the A-League.
Advertising
Advertising for the A-League has been notoriously poor since the competition came into existence.
Their strategy is to create a singular, high-budget advertisement for the entire league, each season, and to somehow magically appeal to people in every market.
NBL marketing is done by each individual team, with a common radio ad that tells listeners when the next game is on.
A case study of how the NBL’s marketing works better is Perth, where the Wildcats and Glory compete for the rank of the state’s fourth most-popular sporting team – behind West Coast Eagles, Fremantle Dockers and Perth Scorchers.
The Wildcats reign supreme in attendance, and that is likely because of their advertising. Wildcats’ advertising can be seen on TV, on the radio, in newspapers, on buses and in train stations, often showing a list of fixtures and ticket prices, alongside an image of a player and a catchy slogan.
Glory’s advertising pales in comparison. The most prevalent ad this season was a 30-second video featuring Chris Ikonomidis dribbling for three seconds.
AAP Image/Darren Pateman
Glory have run some thorough campaigns, including last year’s ‘Fill the park’, which resulted in a city A-League record of almost 18,000 attendees.
The fact that this has happened infrequently suggests A-League teams cannot afford it more often, as the marketing budget is instead spent on campaigns such as ‘Where heroes are made’.
The A-League must move to a more efficient, team-based strategy.
Playing arenas
In the 2019-20 season, Brisbane Roar, Newcastle Jets, Melbourne City, Western United and Wellington Phoenix all play in stadiums inappropriate for football, or the size of their club.
In the NBL, all teams play in appropriately sized, purpose-built arenas. This provides an exciting atmosphere that would be eliminated if each team had another 5000 empty seats.
If every team in the A-League played in boutique stadia, such as Adelaide United’s Hindmarsh Stadium, it would create an atmosphere to make football one of the hottest sporting tickets in Australia.
Foreign player signings
As neither leagues are world-class competitions, they both have to choose wisely when it comes to signing foreign players.
The two leagues have different approaches, with the A-League signing older players with proven talent, while the NBL prefers young players.
A case study of this can be seen when comparing the highest profile players – Alessandro Del Piero (who was 37 when he joined Sydney FC), and LaMelo Ball (who was 18 when he joined Illawarra Hawks).
Del Piero was a great asset who helped raise Sydney FC’s average attendance from 11,861 in 2011-12 to 18,637 in 2012-13, and brought massive crowds in across the country.
The foreign exposure the Italian brought to the A-League however, is minimal compared to the constant talk about LaMelo in the United States basketball media.
Further, LaMelo has led to a record NBL crowd in Sydney of 17,541 and helped bring the NBL average attendance from 6149 in 2018-19 to 7357 in 2019-20.
The A-League should change its marquee player policy to something akin to the NBL’s Next Stars program, which helps bring NBA draft prospects to Australia.
Players that the A-League could target include the likes of Celtic’s 16-year-old Karamoko Dembele and Paris Saint-Germain’s 16-year-old Xavi Simmons.
With the promise of first-team football in a quality league before moving to a big European club, they could increase Australia’s reputation on the world stage.
Kanggas2
Roar Rookie
Tyke Head in the sand comment . I’m sure you didn’t mean it in a bad way but , Indigenous Australians are still being displaced from their homes in today’s world. Seriously mate , there are massive inequality issues for aboriginals . But I don’t think it’s a reason to boycott Australia. Just hope this thread created a little more awareness .
Tyke
Roar Rookie
I think top 5 is an understatement, there is a strong argument it is number 2, even against cashed up European teams
Tyke
Roar Rookie
Why would people boycott us for giving aborigines the same rights as everyone else? Or for taking in thousands of immigrants every year? Isn’t that the right thing to do?
Pedre
Guest
It's brilliant the number of NBL players dominating the NBA
Kanggas2
Roar Rookie
Unfortunately sports radio ratings are a disaster. Look at all the hosts of Sydney sports radio like big sports breakfast, football is never going to get much recognition.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Are you serious?
Zoran
Guest
Brainstrust I can't agree The players would get much greater exposure in the NCAA than in the NBL. The level of play, amongst the top programs would be equal to the NBL. When CBS last had the Final Four in 2017 (it alternates years with TBS), the two Saturday games averaged 16.75 million viewers, and 23 million watched the title game. A great NCAA tournament has bumped many players up in the draft over the years.
Zoran
Guest
Probably not getting the ratings. It is more TV friendly, but if you are only pulling 17,000 viewers that isn't Network friendly.
Zoran
Guest
2002 was a wild one, Korea getting the job against Portugal, Italy and Spain. Beating Germany in 2018. Good times.
chris
Guest
Yes very true Punter. I skip over what Mr AFL/Zoran/Whoever he is today as it sounds like its the usual rantings.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"nbl is not the nba Nick." - Good point. I need to stop watching the A-League and start watching more basketball to improve my knowledge. It can be hard for an outsider to tell the NBA and NBL apart.
max power
Guest
what rights do indigenous people not have? not a fan of our immigration detention but its hardly the same as China with their Uighurs population
max power
Guest
nbl is not the nba Nick.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Kanggas2, This is classic Zoran/Mr Football/Pip, they pick certain facts to suit his agenda, ignoring other facts to make wild sweeping comments. But one fact he finds hard to deny, AFL is only bigger then Football in 1 country of the world & even then it's only in 3 states.
Gangster Run state
Guest
China is a gangster run state. We should acknowledge that.
Kanggas2
Roar Rookie
Zoran Plenty of very ordinary European teams at every World Cup Prior to the last World Cup , the Socceroos easily defeated Hungary, comfortably drew with Denmark during the World Cup . So what teams apart from a bad Italy team were missing in the w c . Rep of Ireland, Scotland, etc , no way they would have been more deserving then Australia. Germany got done by Korea , need to do some fact checking first .
Kanggas2
Roar Rookie
Drew at home with probably the best Scottish team ever in one tie . Best Israel away and Drew at home . Lost to New Zealand was the killer . Drew with Argentina, drew with Iran . Lots of draws , just unable to land that killer blow .
Kanggas2
Roar Rookie
The glory certainly seemed to be the best supported team at the end of Nsl era . Regular 20,000 crowds , golden boot winners and those lairy purple shirts . Newcastle United had a few 15000 crowds and 25000 for semis in the last throes of Nsl , the Constantine era started boyantly. For the most part tho, thr A league era has seen a massive decline of support in the hunter , probably a lot of reasons why. A marquee striker of half decent ability, would bring some crowds back to Newcastle. The fact that Hoffman is playing up front for the jets is just not good enough for a professional competition. , the failed A league player who gets rewarded with a contract renewal year after year , because he is cheap .
Punter
Roar Rookie
Yes I see you have a selected memory picking Argentina, but forget we also lost to New Zealand & Israel during this 24 years, I can tell you far easier then playing 40 degrees heat in Doha, Tehran, Riyadh. I think maybe you should check your facts next time. Just because you don't know something, does not mean it does not exist. Most of my family in England think we are a Rugby (not league) nation.
Admiral Ackbar
Guest
Babbel could have probably done the same if he had the funds.