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Post by dexter on May 13, 2023 8:55:18 GMT
On the BBC Sport website now 2 of the top stories are Basketball. The top story is about LeBron James and the Lakers. The other story is about Brittney Griner. It isn’t BBL but in the grand scheme of things it’s good for basketball in the UK.
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Post by SamH on May 13, 2023 12:26:52 GMT
There's always been a market for NBA (the games they used to stage here always sold out) and there's a very good level of participation in playing the sport in this country too. It's just never translated into increased interest in the BBL sadly. I don't get it because that's the route I went down - watch NBA, play at school and join a local team, then it was start going to bbl games. Just seems like that's not the route for too many others who do actually like basketball.
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Post by dexter on May 13, 2023 12:57:23 GMT
This survey is very encouraging. It puts basketball in the top 10 favourite sports, ahead of cycling, horse racing, ice hockey and netball. www.statista.com/chart/amp/28160/most-followed-sports-in-the-uk/Of course a different survey could show something else but I do think it’s a good indication of where basketball sits. |
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Post by dexter on May 13, 2023 13:10:01 GMT
There's always been a market for NBA (the games they used to stage here always sold out) and there's a very good level of participation in playing the sport in this country too. It's just never translated into increased interest in the BBL sadly. I don't get it because that's the route I went down - watch NBA, play at school and join a local team, then it was start going to bbl games. Just seems like that's not the route for too many others who do actually like basketball. For each BBL team there needs a whole ecosystem, not just for the players but also for the fans. Leicester Riders have a great setup with Loughborough University but they also have lots of empty seats. If they can’t sell all their tickets they should be filling those seats with school kids. |
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Post by blueskies99 on May 13, 2023 13:26:01 GMT
There's always been a market for NBA (the games they used to stage here always sold out) and there's a very good level of participation in playing the sport in this country too. It's just never translated into increased interest in the BBL sadly. I don't get it because that's the route I went down - watch NBA, play at school and join a local team, then it was start going to bbl games. Just seems like that's not the route for too many others who do actually like basketball. For each BBL team there needs a whole ecosystem, not just for the players but also for the fans. Leicester Riders have a great setup with Loughborough University but they also have lots of empty seats. If they can’t sell all their tickets they should be filling those seats with school kids. Riders already have parties of school kids attending games. The problem with that is availability of teachers to supervise them on a Friday night after a week of hard work. Some of those empty seats are allocated to sponsors so they are paid for but the likelihood of them being empty is pretty high. |
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markb
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Post by markb on May 13, 2023 13:41:34 GMT
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Post by dexter on May 13, 2023 13:56:05 GMT
That is a very steep decline. It would be interesting to see if other sports are growing or if people are just becoming less active. At this rate in 15 years basketball will be extinct. |
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markb
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Post by markb on May 13, 2023 14:03:45 GMT
Had a look at a few of the stats on that site.
Most sports have declined in participation since 2012 (shows the legacy thing didn’t work). Everything obviously dropped because of covid. Football declining too but not as severe.
Interesting site though. 234,000 people playing a sport sounds like a niche sport to me
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Post by teamnix on May 13, 2023 15:49:10 GMT
Aaron was on Ian king live on sky news Thursday
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Post by dexter on May 13, 2023 16:12:21 GMT
Had a look at a few of the stats on that site. Most sports have declined in participation since 2012 (shows the legacy thing didn’t work). Everything obviously dropped because of covid. Football declining too but not as severe. Interesting site though. 234,000 people playing a sport sounds like a niche sport to me Those people who wish 777 Partners hadn't come along with a bag of money need to realise this. Carrying on without investing and growing would have meant the BBL collapsing pretty soon. Plymouth and Manchester would be gone, so we have an 8 team league with declining interest and probably no TV deal. Pretty soon basketball would be a volleyball level niche sport. It would be just another university sport without a professional league. |
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markb
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Post by markb on May 13, 2023 16:50:41 GMT
Had a look at a few of the stats on that site. Most sports have declined in participation since 2012 (shows the legacy thing didn’t work). Everything obviously dropped because of covid. Football declining too but not as severe. Interesting site though. 234,000 people playing a sport sounds like a niche sport to me Those people who wish 777 Partners hadn't come along with a bag of money need to realise this. Carrying on without investing and growing would have meant the BBL collapsing pretty soon. Plymouth and Manchester would be gone, so we have an 8 team league with declining interest and probably no TV deal. Pretty soon basketball would be a volleyball level niche sport. It would be just another university sport without a professional league. Are 777 investing in growing participation or throwing money at a dwindling audience? I guess whether you are behind them depends on whether you believe in trickle-down or building from grassroots up. |
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Post by spacejammer on May 13, 2023 16:53:31 GMT
On the BBC Sport website now 2 of the top stories are Basketball. The top story is about LeBron James and the Lakers. The other story is about Brittney Griner. It isn’t BBL but in the grand scheme of things it’s good for basketball in the UK. To be honest I don't really think this is going to change much for basketball in the UK just because 2 stories are on the BBC website. If it was 2 BBL stories then maybe I would agree. However most of the time BBC Sport tends to post like 80% of its basketball content about NBA plays of the week and probably like 5% BBL. |
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Post by dexter on May 13, 2023 18:14:50 GMT
Those people who wish 777 Partners hadn't come along with a bag of money need to realise this. Carrying on without investing and growing would have meant the BBL collapsing pretty soon. Plymouth and Manchester would be gone, so we have an 8 team league with declining interest and probably no TV deal. Pretty soon basketball would be a volleyball level niche sport. It would be just another university sport without a professional league. Are 777 investing in growing participation or throwing money at a dwindling audience? I guess whether you are behind them depends on whether you believe in trickle-down or building from grassroots up. That remains to be seen. I hope these studies are being repeated this year so we can see if the sport has declined any more and whether or not basketball is still a top 10 sport. |
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Post by milehigh on May 13, 2023 19:35:57 GMT
We need to accept that in the UK basketball is a minority sport, with a small audience. Until the sport is marketed in a way that it is attractive to an audience demographic that is attractive to successful businesses and has an audience that matches the target demographic for those businesses it is never going to grow in the UK.
There is a simple reason why sports like Rugby Union, Tennis, Golf and even Bobsleigh attract large high profile commercial partners, they have an audience with the right demographic and the disposable income to be attractive, they also offer a great experience for corporate hospitality, something basketball in the UK fails to do.
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Post by dexter on May 13, 2023 19:49:02 GMT
We need to accept that in the UK basketball is a minority sport, with a small audience. Until the sport is marketed in a way that it is attractive to an audience demographic that is attractive to successful businesses and has an audience that matches the target demographic for those businesses it is never going to grow in the UK. There is a simple reason why sports like Rugby Union, Tennis, Golf and even Bobsleigh attract large high profile commercial partners, they have an audience with the right demographic and the disposable income to be attractive, they also offer a great experience for corporate hospitality, something basketball in the UK fails to do. In Europe and in North America basketball is attractive to those at the top of society. Many of Europe’s royals are basketball fans including the King of Spain, the Prince of Monaco, and the Crown Princess of Denmark. |
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Post by milehigh on May 13, 2023 20:19:01 GMT
In Europe and the USA the audience profile, and the facilities used are very different to in the UK.
The NBA has contracts to show games nationally with three major networks, as well as the local contracts that ensure every game of the season is available in a teams local area.
How to grow British basketball, so it is financially viable, and attractive to commercial organisations is the difficult question, removing the salary cap, and allowing a side to have a budget 600% higher than the next best, is not they way to grow the sport in the UK.
The history of the original USFL shows that allowing unlimited, and unequal, spending is the way to bankrupt a league.
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Post by cosbyrider on May 13, 2023 21:45:12 GMT
Had a look at a few of the stats on that site. Most sports have declined in participation since 2012 (shows the legacy thing didn’t work). Everything obviously dropped because of covid. Football declining too but not as severe. Interesting site though. 234,000 people playing a sport sounds like a niche sport to me Those people who wish 777 Partners hadn't come along with a bag of money need to realise this. Carrying on without investing and growing would have meant the BBL collapsing pretty soon. Plymouth and Manchester would be gone, so we have an 8 team league with declining interest and probably no TV deal. Pretty soon basketball would be a volleyball level niche sport. It would be just another university sport without a professional league. BBL has survived since 1987. Teams like Manchester and Plymouth have gone before in similar circumstances and then come back around. The league has faced circumstances such as COVID and ITV digital collapse to be pretty resolute and continue. The existing TV deal pre dates 777s interest alongside the Playoff final taking place at o2. Please don’t make out 777 are some shining knight in armour. They might grow the sport in the UK but they won’t save the sport in the UK. There are plenty of people who’ve done that for years upon years |
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markb
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Post by markb on May 14, 2023 7:17:57 GMT
[/quote]
Please don’t make out 777 are some shining knight in armour. They might grow the sport in the UK but they won’t save the sport in the UK. There are plenty of people who’ve done that for years upon years
[/quote]
This. I don’t see why people don’t get that 777 are an investment company who expect to generate huge returns in a short period of time. They’re capitalists who think they’ve spotted an opportunity that others have missed. They’re not here to throw money at a minority sport out of the goodness of their hearts.
Their plan will either work or it won’t (it won’t) and after they’ve got bored of their shiny new toy and made up excuses for why it didn’t work, it’ll be the same people left to save the sport who’ve been doing it for years.
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Post by ScottishBasketballFan on May 14, 2023 8:24:55 GMT
RE Basketball in the media
Everyone knows the NBA will grab the headlines but the only other time it gets mentioned is if something controversial happens such as that Basketbrawl involving Australia
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Post by ScottishBasketballFan on May 14, 2023 20:48:19 GMT
Ja Morant should change his name to Ja Moron www.bbc.co.uk/sport/basketball/65592261If he wants to act like a thug then he should retire from playing, he obviously hasn't learned his lesson with the almost weekly shootings that go in America. |
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