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Post by SamH on Sept 27, 2022 18:49:13 GMT
I must admit after the Bears folded my interest in the BBL waned considerably and hasn't really recovered to the level it was at, but I still keep up. Whereas when the NBA took away my beloved Supersonics, it didn't effect my interest as I like to see the best players and teams in the world play the sport. I think having an emotional connection is definitely important though.
As for Birmingham, did it fail due to lack of fan interest? Brighton failed because Nick Nurse was too ambitious and should have stuck to coaching rather than directing the franchise. I've no doubt basketball could make a successful return to Brighton if run by someone with better business acumen.
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Post by bullets92 on Sept 27, 2022 19:26:17 GMT
If you want to expand then start by avoiding places where it has failed like Birmingham. Try to tap into places that have never had a BBL team. I'm sorry but this is one of the worst takes I've ever heard. Alienate arguably the biggest market currently without a team because of a few idiots previously? Apart from p*ssing on the success Bullets had, by your logic this rules out Brighton, Liverpool, Durham and Leeds...amongst others |
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Post by dexter on Sept 27, 2022 19:43:52 GMT
If you want to expand then start by avoiding places where it has failed like Birmingham. Try to tap into places that have never had a BBL team. I'm sorry but this is one of the worst takes I've ever heard. Alienate arguably the biggest market currently without a team because of a few idiots previously? Apart from p*ssing on the success Bullets had, by your logic this rules out Brighton, Liverpool, Durham and Leeds...amongst others Personally I would rule out Liverpool. Several sports have tried to establish a professional team in Liverpool and all have failed. They care only for football. Those other cities are all good candidates for a BBL team as far as I know. |
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Post by stevetino on Sept 27, 2022 19:45:29 GMT
I must admit after the Bears folded my interest in the BBL waned considerably and hasn't really recovered to the level it was at, but I still keep up. Whereas when the NBA took away my beloved Supersonics, it didn't effect my interest as I like to see the best players and teams in the world play the sport. I think having an emotional connection is definitely important though. As for Birmingham, did it fail due to lack of fan interest? Brighton failed because Nick Nurse was too ambitious and should have stuck to coaching rather than directing the franchise. I've no doubt basketball could make a successful return to Brighton if run by someone with better business acumen. I was wondering if Brighton could be resurrected? Or Durham, or Birmingham, Liverpool and Leeds? Even Worcester as well |
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Post by ScottishBasketballFan on Sept 28, 2022 7:18:30 GMT
Apart from Durham & Worcester, the 3 others Birmingham, Leeds & Liverpool already have established football teams so trying to make a minority sports team work in those places these days is nigh on impossible.
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Post by SamH on Sept 28, 2022 8:37:40 GMT
But Newcastle, Leicester, Sheffield and Manchester all have big football teams?
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Post by gardielo on Sept 28, 2022 8:53:09 GMT
I went I a Birmingham Bullets game that was live on Sky and has 3000 people in attendance. Don't tell me basketball can't work in Birmingham. It worked well for years . There is a common theme though. People take over the franchise who have no love for the game. The. Comes the fall.
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Post by reallyoldfeenixfan2 on Sept 28, 2022 9:46:43 GMT
Or their love for the game blinkers them to the issues/costs but that doesn't really bother them 'cos we'll work it out as we go along
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Post by SamH on Sept 28, 2022 10:31:43 GMT
Well that was Nick Nurse for sure. Brighton used to get 2000-3000 fans consistently although did play some games at the smaller Triangle in Burgess Hill, but still probably got 1000 there. I don't think lack of income was the problem, it was over-spending. I don't know about Bullets (or the later B'ham team) but presumably they had decent support in a city that size. So again it may have been financial mis-management rather than a lack of income (and obviously if you have fans you should be able to get sponsors etc as well).
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Post by dexter on Sept 28, 2022 18:28:15 GMT
I like to promote the BBL to anyone I think might listen. Today I urged a workmate to watch it on Sky Sports this Friday. A replay of the playoff final; it should be a cracker. He’s a Team Bath netball fan. I think often netball fans can enjoy watching basketball. Anyway, it got me thinking Bath would be an ideal city for a basketball team. The Netball Superleague season doesn’t start till February. The Team Bath Arena is really nice. Team Bath netball team and the Team Bath rugby team have big fanbases. They are a ready made fanbase for a Team Bath BBL team.
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Post by LTfan on Sept 28, 2022 19:39:17 GMT
I like to promote the BBL to anyone I think might listen. Today I urged a workmate to watch it on Sky Sports this Friday. A replay of the playoff final; it should be a cracker. He’s a Team Bath netball fan. I think often netball fans can enjoy watching basketball. Anyway, it got me thinking Bath would be an ideal city for a basketball team. The Netball Superleague season doesn’t start till February. The Team Bath Arena is really nice. Team Bath netball team and the Team Bath rugby team have big fanbases. They are a ready made fanbase for a Team Bath BBL team. My only challenge to a Bath BBL team is that it’s only about 12 miles away from Bristol. |
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Post by dexter on Sept 28, 2022 20:39:18 GMT
I like to promote the BBL to anyone I think might listen. Today I urged a workmate to watch it on Sky Sports this Friday. A replay of the playoff final; it should be a cracker. He’s a Team Bath netball fan. I think often netball fans can enjoy watching basketball. Anyway, it got me thinking Bath would be an ideal city for a basketball team. The Netball Superleague season doesn’t start till February. The Team Bath Arena is really nice. Team Bath netball team and the Team Bath rugby team have big fanbases. They are a ready made fanbase for a Team Bath BBL team. My only challenge to a Bath BBL team is that it’s only about 12 miles away from Bristol. I take your point, but when Flyers move to their new arena at Ashton Gate that is quite far from Bath. It’s on the other side of Bristol. Also people from Bath, Somerset and even Wiltshire have a problem supporting a Bristol team. It’s like someone from Liverpool supporting a Manchester team. It goes against your identity. |
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Post by tallerman on Sept 29, 2022 11:47:57 GMT
I like to promote the BBL to anyone I think might listen. Today I urged a workmate to watch it on Sky Sports this Friday. A replay of the playoff final; it should be a cracker. He’s a Team Bath netball fan. I think often netball fans can enjoy watching basketball. Anyway, it got me thinking Bath would be an ideal city for a basketball team. The Netball Superleague season doesn’t start till February. The Team Bath Arena is really nice. Team Bath netball team and the Team Bath rugby team have big fanbases. They are a ready made fanbase for a Team Bath BBL team. My only challenge to a Bath BBL team is that it’s only about 12 miles away from Bristol. Team Bath Romans were brilliant back in the day, a Leicester legend even stared for them |
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Post by Stephen Abootman on Sept 29, 2022 18:01:25 GMT
Assuming this imaginary budget increase would be a long term thing, not just some one year flash in the pan, this seems like a no brainer to me. I'd much rather have a significantly improved 10 team league than a mediocre league with more teams in it.
I've never entirely understood BBL fans obsession with expansion. More teams doesn't automatically equal greater credibility. Better representation in Europe, a better standard top to bottom, better facilities, a bigger audience etc. equals greater credibility. Whether there's 12 teams, 14 teams, 16 teams... whatever you've arbitrarily decided the optimal number is. I don't really see how achieving that number does much to improve British basketball if there's no improvement in standards.
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Post by dexter on Sept 29, 2022 19:12:30 GMT
Assuming this imaginary budget increase would be a long term thing, not just some one year flash in the pan, this seems like a no brainer to me. I'd much rather have a significantly improved 10 team league than a mediocre league with more teams in it. I've never entirely understood BBL fans obsession with expansion. More teams doesn't automatically equal greater credibility. Better representation in Europe, a better standard top to bottom, better facilities, a bigger audience etc. equals greater credibility. Whether there's 12 teams, 14 teams, 16 teams... whatever you've arbitrarily decided the optimal number is. I don't really see how achieving that number does much to improve British basketball if there's no improvement in standards. This is more or less my position. As LTfan pointed out Australia’s NBL is only 10 teams but is top quality in terms of players, arenas and everything else. I would rather a few other teams had a big budget like London Lions than have 4 more teams at the current BBL standard. |
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Post by tallerman on Sept 29, 2022 20:20:35 GMT
While they have a 10 team strong nbl tbey also have about 6 other pro leagues to play in and compete
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2022 21:15:48 GMT
The NBL is only 28 games though and only 4 teams make the playoffs and have no cup competitions, and the season from opening night to last game of playoffs is 4 months apart, it’s chalk and cheese compared to the BBL and teams don’t end up playing each other 5/6/7 times a season
I will admit I never fully read the question when I answered originally, so given this very specific choices here obviously I would take the BBL improving overall, but 10 teams isn’t enough and considering the rate at which we lose teams unless we get more in it will end up being below 10 before too long
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Post by dexter on Sept 29, 2022 21:52:48 GMT
The NBL is only 28 games though and only 4 teams make the playoffs and have no cup competitions, and the season from opening night to last game of playoffs is 4 months apart, it’s chalk and cheese compared to the BBL and teams don’t end up playing each other 5/6/7 times a season I will admit I never fully read the question when I answered originally, so given this very specific choices here obviously I would take the BBL improving overall, but 10 teams isn’t enough and considering the rate at which we lose teams unless we get more in it will end up being below 10 before too long Based on history I agree with you. If you're not adding teams you will end up with 9, then 8, then 7 etc. |
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Post by dexter on Dec 31, 2022 5:14:02 GMT
Aaron Radin has indicated there won’t be any expansion teams for a couple of seasons, so this is just speculation. As an ideal situation this is what I think the league would look like:
A second BBL team in Scotland, which can start life in the new Meadowbank Sports Centre 1000 seater show court.
A team in Leeds, which will require a new indoor arena.
A Birmingham team, which would ideally have a new arena but could potentially play games between the Birmingham Arena, NEC Arena, Coventry Building Society Arena and University of Worcester Arena. If this was a big budget team like London Lions it could work by attracting fans from across the West Midlands.
A second London team, representing West London or North London. They would need a new arena but they could play some games at the Wembley Arena.
This makes 14 teams. If they were split into a north conference and a south conference, teams could play teams in their own conference 3 times and teams in the other conference twice. That is 32 games (16 home games) and it means Plymouth only has to travel to Glasgow once a season.
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Post by sporty77 on Dec 31, 2022 15:02:09 GMT
Well that was Nick Nurse for sure. Brighton used to get 2000-3000 fans consistently although did play some games at the smaller Triangle in Burgess Hill, but still probably got 1000 there. I don't think lack of income was the problem, it was over-spending. I don't know about Bullets (or the later B'ham team) but presumably they had decent support in a city that size. So again it may have been financial mis-management rather than a lack of income (and obviously if you have fans you should be able to get sponsors etc as well). |
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