Basketball in Australia is experiencing a significant resurgence in public interest. Everyday you can now run into a Simmon’s 76ers jersey. Cubicles now include just as much talk of NBA pre season outcomes and spirited debates about whether LeBron James had made the right choice in going to LA as they do about AFL results. Casual basketball clubs are increasing their numbers and NBA 2k is one of the most played video games in Australia.
Amid all this excitement the NBL is looking to capitalise and expand the league to ten teams, play an unprecedented number of games in America and bring back one of the old Australian stars, Andrew Bogut. Their is plenty of pieces online about how great this is all going and projecting the glory days for the NBL in the years to come.
However these developments have nothing to do with the actual games. Whilst the NBL x NBA games will generate interest and stories about Bogut and the Southern Huskies keep popping up, actually remaining connected with the NBL is a hard task.
The praise for what is happening with the NBL is well deserved but their is a long gap between the end of the season and the start of the new season. It is too long and it doesn’t have to be this way.
Next week and this week teams will begin playing some games against American College teams. This highlights the first problem for the casual fan. When you attend these games, it’s actually easier to find out about how good the college players are than the team your supporting. Your team you go to watch will have several ring-ins from around the local leagues who the casual fan will never had heard of or know anything about.
Contrast this with Summer League and the College system in the NBA. It is easy to engage with. Is the Australian system of local state based leagues where players develop so different? For example the SEABL finals are still going and their are some exciting games happening around the country involving young talent from Australia, overseas and your favourite NBL team. However all you can look forward too from these are the obligatory weekly post by your team telling you the stat line for your players.
With all the focus on expansion, their could be a missed opportunity within these college tours and leagues such as the SEABL to keep fans fully engaged. If the local leagues and the NBL were committed and part of a system that works to generate better basketball at all levels, it follows that interest in all the leagues could increase. NBL has access to media and resources that could increase the interest in both the local leagues and the college tours.
So in what is a reminder that the NBL can do more with the actual game as well as media grabbing NBLxNBA, Andrew Bogut and the Southern Huskies here are some suggestions:
- NBL TV partnerships with local leagues to showcase the leagues.
- Tournament style competition with the touring universities (think 4 teams come normally, what if it was an attractive touring tournament between the universities).
- Hosting an inter Asia match with a team from China, Japan etc.
People often compare the popularity of the NBL and the A League. For all the A Leagues governance issues they recognised the importance of a partnership that created the FFA Cup. Local teams involved and part of the party as well as the national league. This week on a Wednesday night, 4459 people cramming into terraces in the cold of night to watch Sydney FC play Rockdale City Suns.
Nothing creates more interest in the league than people watching the actual sport.