The NBL could be set to see major growth as a result of Australia’s national soccer competitions deciding to move from summer to winter.
In a move not dissimilar to the NBL’s decision to shift seasons in 1999, Australia’s national soccer leagues will instead look to compete for relevancy against the AFL and NRL during Australia’s winter months.
Both the men’s A-League and women’s W-League will start their respective 2020/21 seasons in December and finish in July in a move designed to align the elite competitions with the international game and lower-tier competitions which could open opportunities for the NBL to grow its fanbase.
As a result, the NBL will now face one less major sport competing for both spectators and corporate sponsors during the summer months.
As soccer faced the prospect of having no television deal if it remained a summer sport, a quick decision was made to shift schedules and sign a new broadcast deal with Fox Sports valued at $32 million.
The deal is down from the current deal worth almost $60 million per year as Fox was determined to reduce its spend on the A-League due to poor TV ratings and interest levels in the sport since Fox signed a six-year TV deal with FFA in 2015.
Broadcast deals have become unreliable after the COVID-19 for sports with the NRL and the AFL also agreeing to reduced deals with their respective broadcasters.
This creates an interesting opportunity and case study for the NBL as it can watch with a vested interest how A-League fares competing with winter sports and measures what uplift the move generates in corporate sponsorships and fans.
Over the past decade, basketball luminaries like Andrew Gaze, Cal Burton, Ken Cole, even Jacob Holms and the NBL players association have called for basketball to return to winter play, citing benefits like avoiding competition from family holidays, beaches and BBQ’s during the summer, which makes getting people to attend NBL games difficult and to see the league play opposite leagues like the NBA and Europe which would allow not only the best Australian talent to play in the league every year but also the world’s best international talent.
“In summer people have too many options. They want to be outdoors, they want to travel. In winter, it’s cold and people want to be indoors. You can sit out in the cold at the football or you can come to the basketball. Let’s give people that choice.” Cal Bruton told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2013.
Playing in the winter would allow NBA and Euroleague players to play here during their league’s off-season and current NBL players to sign lucrative deals with European clubs during the NBL off-season.
The NBL’s current structure sees highs in both attendance and TV ratings when the league kicks off in October but then it decreases considerably during the summer holidays before huge spikes as the league heads into the playoffs.
For its first three months, October to December, despite the slight decrease the league remains reasonably steady but as the weather heats up and competition in the form of Cricket and the Australian Open comes along and we see interest in the NBL taking a huge hit.
On a recent episode of the Aussie Hoopla podcast former NBL chairman Mal Speed spoke of the league’s decision to switch seasons which also was made on the back of pressure from TV broadcasters.
“We had researched everything we could and looked at every issue but the overwhelming outcome of all of that research was the NBL would be better off in the summer even aside from the TV deal which was the major driver” said Speed.
“We did surveys, interviews with bordcasters, focus groups, we had a couple of high powered sports management agencies conducting surveys and all other indicators like club members and club sponsors liked it… we presented all of that to the teams and the overwhelming result was a decision to move to the summer”.
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Another factor that impacts the NBL is the NBA running starting from November which no doubt distracts many basketball fans from locally televised games to watching NBA coverage at night.
Watching how this move to winter helps or hinders the soccer could influence the NBL’s decision to play during its current timetable and perhaps return to the winter if soccer’s decision delivers positive results.
Soccers foray into winter will be a great litmus test to determine if the NBL’s move to summer was the best move in hindsight and also bodes well for the league to capitalise on corporate sponsors, fan attendance and TV exposure either way.
“Was it the right decision to go to summer? it’s very hard to answer that because we don’t know what would have happened if we stayed in winter but all the signs showed that if we stayed in winter we were heading for serious trouble” said Speed.
Whatever happens Aussie hoops fans will be keeping an eye on the A-League’s bold move with a keen interest.
Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.
