Arenas

[dexter]

Jun 6, 2024 16:22:27 GMT docker said:

That video was very informative. Quite refreshing to see how joined up the thinking can be when the governing body of the sport controls the pro league!

Also interesting to read that the owners of Harlequins rugby team are investors in the London Pulse Netball team based at the Copper Box.

I didn't realise that about Harlequins and London Pulse having the same owners.

From this video it is confirmed that London Mavericks will be playing from Wembley Arena, which I was assuming anyway. It also seems that the 50% of games played in a large arena means across the whole league, not for every team. Some teams will only be playing 2 home games in a big arena, whilst others will play all their games in a large arena (London Pulse, Nottingham Forest). So it's not as ambitious as it sounds.

Something else we can be sure of is, with these teams going from small arenas to very big arenas, they have absolutely no interest in contributing to getting more arenas built. This is in stark contrast to basketball which has contributed towards getting several arenas built.

[irf]

Jun 6, 2024 16:40:47 GMT dexter said:

Jun 6, 2024 16:22:27 GMT docker said:

That video was very informative. Quite refreshing to see how joined up the thinking can be when the governing body of the sport controls the pro league!

Also interesting to read that the owners of Harlequins rugby team are investors in the London Pulse Netball team based at the Copper Box.

I didn't realise that about Harlequins and London Pulse having the same owners.

From this video it is confirmed that London Mavericks will be playing from Wembley Arena, which I was assuming anyway. It also seems that the 50% of games played in a large arena means across the whole league, not for every team. Some teams will only be playing 2 home games in a big arena, whilst others will play all their games in a large arena (London Pulse, Nottingham Forest). So it's not as ambitious as it sounds.

Something else we can be sure of is, with these teams going from small arenas to very big arenas, they have absolutely no interest in contributing to getting more arenas built. This is in stark contrast to basketball which has contributed towards getting several arenas built.

Funnily enough there's separate talk of Forest moving from The City Ground to a new sporting "campus" away from where they are now and that would likely involve an indoor arena as part of the setup. The owner is used to multisports setups at Olmpyakos. So you never know I guess.

Might be worth keeping an eye out for Forest having a basketball team in the future

[dexter]

Jun 8, 2024 6:43:16 GMT irf said:

Jun 6, 2024 16:40:47 GMT dexter said:

I didn't realise that about Harlequins and London Pulse having the same owners.

From this video it is confirmed that London Mavericks will be playing from Wembley Arena, which I was assuming anyway. It also seems that the 50% of games played in a large arena means across the whole league, not for every team. Some teams will only be playing 2 home games in a big arena, whilst others will play all their games in a large arena (London Pulse, Nottingham Forest). So it's not as ambitious as it sounds.

Something else we can be sure of is, with these teams going from small arenas to very big arenas, they have absolutely no interest in contributing to getting more arenas built. This is in stark contrast to basketball which has contributed towards getting several arenas built.

Funnily enough there's separate talk of Forest moving from The City Ground to a new sporting "campus away from where they are now and that would likely involve an indoor arena as part of the setup. The owner is used to multisports setups at Olmpyakos. So you never know I guess.

Might be worth keeping an eye out for Forest having a basketball team in the future

Yes definitely a club worth keeping an eye on. Evangelos Marinakis is definitely interested in adding new teams and building things.

[dexter]

Updates on the Bristol arenas

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/date-set-ashton-gate-sporting-9376542

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/ytl-bristol-arena-delay-2027-9371716

[dexter]

www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyv73xye2lo

Bristol's basketball arena is going to be built.

[dexter]

Netball Superleague venues have been announced.

Opening tournament: Utilita Arena, Sheffield.

Manchester Thunder: Belle Vue Arena; Manchester Arena; Liverpool Arena.

Leeds Rhinos: Canon Medical Centre, Sheffield; First Direct Arena, Leeds.

Nottingham Forest: Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Loughborough Lightening: Sir David Wallace Arena, Loughborough University; Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Birmingham Panthers: University of Worcester Arena; Coventry SkyDome; NIA Birmingham; NEC Birmingham.

London Mavericks: Hertfordshire Sports Village; Brentwood Centre, Essex; Wembley Arena.

London Pulse: Copper Box Arena.

Cardiff Dragons: House of Sport, Cardiff; Utilita Arena, Cardiff.

The Final: The O2, London.

[spacejammer]

Nov 15, 2024 21:13:02 GMT dexter said:

Netball Superleague venues have been announced.

Opening tournament: Utilita Arena, Sheffield.

Manchester Thunder: Belle Vue Arena; Manchester Arena; Liverpool Arena.

Leeds Rhinos: Canon Medical Centre, Sheffield; First Direct Arena, Leeds.

Nottingham Forest: Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Loughborough Lightening: Sir David Wallace Arena, Loughborough University; Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Birmingham Panthers: University of Worcester Arena; Coventry SkyDome; NIA Birmingham; NEC Birmingham.

London Mavericks: Hertfordshire Sports Village; Brentwood Centre, Essex; Wembley Arena.

London Pulse: Copper Box Arena.

Cardiff Dragons: House of Sport, Cardiff; Utilita Arena, Cardiff.

The Final: The O2, London.

Why on earth is Leeds Rhino's playing at a venue in Sheffield?
Makes no sense to me and seems rather odd.

[dexter]

Nov 15, 2024 21:50:40 GMT spacejammer said:

Nov 15, 2024 21:13:02 GMT dexter said:

Netball Superleague venues have been announced.

Opening tournament: Utilita Arena, Sheffield.

Manchester Thunder: Belle Vue Arena; Manchester Arena; Liverpool Arena.

Leeds Rhinos: Canon Medical Centre, Sheffield; First Direct Arena, Leeds.

Nottingham Forest: Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Loughborough Lightening: Sir David Wallace Arena, Loughborough University; Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Birmingham Panthers: University of Worcester Arena; Coventry SkyDome; NIA Birmingham; NEC Birmingham.

London Mavericks: Hertfordshire Sports Village; Brentwood Centre, Essex; Wembley Arena.

London Pulse: Copper Box Arena.

Cardiff Dragons: House of Sport, Cardiff; Utilita Arena, Cardiff.

The Final: The O2, London.

Why on earth is Leeds Rhino's playing at a venue in Sheffield?
Makes no sense to me and seems rather odd.

They don't have an indoor sports arena in Leeds. They claim they want to build one for netball and wheelchair rugby but there's nothing about it I can find from this year. This is from last year

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/other-sport/leeds-rhinos-exploring-options-in-city-for-purpose-built-community-netball-arena-4081115

[LTfan]

Nov 15, 2024 21:13:02 GMT dexter said:

Netball Superleague venues have been announced.

Opening tournament: Utilita Arena, Sheffield.

Manchester Thunder: Belle Vue Arena; Manchester Arena; Liverpool Arena.

Leeds Rhinos: Canon Medical Centre, Sheffield; First Direct Arena, Leeds.

Nottingham Forest: Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Loughborough Lightening: Sir David Wallace Arena, Loughborough University; Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Birmingham Panthers: University of Worcester Arena; Coventry SkyDome; NIA Birmingham; NEC Birmingham.

London Mavericks: Hertfordshire Sports Village; Brentwood Centre, Essex; Wembley Arena.

London Pulse: Copper Box Arena.

Cardiff Dragons: House of Sport, Cardiff; Utilita Arena, Cardiff.

The Final: The O2, London.

So most teams with have multiple ‘home’ arenas, interesting approach.

[dexter]

Nov 16, 2024 8:42:45 GMT LTfan said:

Nov 15, 2024 21:13:02 GMT dexter said:

Netball Superleague venues have been announced.

Opening tournament: Utilita Arena, Sheffield.

Manchester Thunder: Belle Vue Arena; Manchester Arena; Liverpool Arena.

Leeds Rhinos: Canon Medical Centre, Sheffield; First Direct Arena, Leeds.

Nottingham Forest: Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Loughborough Lightening: Sir David Wallace Arena, Loughborough University; Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham.

Birmingham Panthers: University of Worcester Arena; Coventry SkyDome; NIA Birmingham; NEC Birmingham.

London Mavericks: Hertfordshire Sports Village; Brentwood Centre, Essex; Wembley Arena.

London Pulse: Copper Box Arena.

Cardiff Dragons: House of Sport, Cardiff; Utilita Arena, Cardiff.

The Final: The O2, London.

So most teams with have multiple ‘home’ arenas, interesting approach.

Each team only has 7 home games. Nottingham Forest and London Pulse are the only teams with all their games at a single large arena. Manchester Thunder (NBPC) and Leeds Rhinos have good home arenas with a couple of games in big arenas.

Birmingham Panthers is interesting. Brand new team calling itself Birmingham Panthers. 3 games in Worcester. 2 in Coventry. Just one in Birmingham Arena and one in NEC arena. Worcester and Coventry both previously had Netball Superleague teams.

[cosbyrider]

Same old sports executive waffle for me. Multi venue teams don’t work because how can a team build an identity if they have move away from a venue they can’t build a home atmosphere within and in the case multi city/town teams it just doesn’t help with continuity/pattern.

There are various example why it just don’t work but they still keep on going for it.

[cosbyrider]

Also the cost of setting up individual events in those big arenas will be bloody huge!

[dexter]

Nov 16, 2024 14:22:22 GMT cosbyrider said:

Same old sports executive waffle for me. Multi venue teams don’t work because how can a team build an identity if they have move away from a venue they can’t build a home atmosphere within and in the case multi city/town teams it just doesn’t help with continuity/pattern.

There are various example why it just don’t work but they still keep on going for it.

I think the intention is for all the games to eventually be in Birmingham in a few years. They are playing it safe this season. Worcester and Coventry already have netball fans. They will sell out those smaller venues easily. What I don't understand is why they have a game in NEC, rather than 2 in Birmingham Arena.

[cosbyrider]

Nov 16, 2024 15:28:54 GMT dexter said:

Nov 16, 2024 14:22:22 GMT cosbyrider said:

Same old sports executive waffle for me. Multi venue teams don’t work because how can a team build an identity if they have move away from a venue they can’t build a home atmosphere within and in the case multi city/town teams it just doesn’t help with continuity/pattern.

There are various example why it just don’t work but they still keep on going for it.

I think the intention is for all the games to eventually be in Birmingham in a few years. They are playing it safe this season. Worcester and Coventry already have netball fans. They will sell out those smaller venues easily. What I don't understand is why they have a game in NEC, rather than 2 in Birmingham Arena.

But those fans in Coventry and Worcester are alienated by supporting a team branded Birmingham

[dexter]

Nov 17, 2024 0:46:01 GMT cosbyrider said:

Nov 16, 2024 15:28:54 GMT dexter said:

I think the intention is for all the games to eventually be in Birmingham in a few years. They are playing it safe this season. Worcester and Coventry already have netball fans. They will sell out those smaller venues easily. What I don't understand is why they have a game in NEC, rather than 2 in Birmingham Arena.

But those fans in Coventry and Worcester are alienated by supporting a team branded Birmingham

I doubt it. The Worcester team was called Severn Stars (sounds like a Chinese restaurant) and the Coventry team was part of Wasps, which is currently dormant but is expected to re-emerge in Kent without the netball team. I suspect the fans were more interested in having a netball team to support than any loyalty to the name of that team. I expect the people who are more annoyed are the brummies who thought they were getting a team only to discover they're only getting two home games.

[silverbirch]

I think part of the new league entry was to play a minimum of 3 home games at an arena bigger than 5k with the intention to increase this to all games in the 3 years. So i suppose its a mix of minimising costs where they can - using smaller venues for most of the games, therefore cheaper - and also using the fact they are pretty much 7 events rather than 20 home games to maximise their reach in year one.

Netball teams having been playing 1 or 2 home games in Arenas for a few years now so its just an extension of that.

I guarantee pretty much all those arena games will be loss leaders in the first few years but if that is the league stipulation then i guess they have no option.

[dexter]

Nov 17, 2024 15:03:14 GMT silverbirch said:

I think part of the new league entry was to play a minimum of 3 home games at an arena bigger than 5k with the intention to increase this to all games in the 3 years. So i suppose its a mix of minimising costs where they can - using smaller venues for most of the games, therefore cheaper - and also using the fact they are pretty much 7 events rather than 20 home games to maximise their reach in year one.

Netball teams having been playing 1 or 2 home games in Arenas for a few years now so its just an extension of that.

I guarantee pretty much all those arena games will be loss leaders in the first few years but if that is the league stipulation then i guess they have no option.

I think they must have changed that to 2 homes games in a large arena. Birmingham Panthers have 3 games at Worcester, 2 at Coventry SkyDome, 1 at Birmingham Arena and 1 at NEC Arena.

[johnjack]

It’s going to be interesting to see if they manage to reach critical mass. I know for one, having two nieces that are heavily into Netball at Junior level. They have a set up that Basketball can only sit back and envy.

[dexter]

OK I'm not quite following the strategy. London Mavericks have 2 home games at Wembley Arena; 3 at the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield; one at Brentwood Centre, Essex; and one at the Brighton Centre. So they've called themselves London but they play right across the Home Counties.

[LTfan]

Nov 19, 2024 23:24:29 GMT dexter said:

OK I'm not quite following the strategy. London Mavericks have 2 home games at Wembley Arena; 3 at the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield; one at Brentwood Centre, Essex; and one at the Brighton Centre. So they've called themselves London but they play right across the Home Counties.

London Mavericks are playing a home game at the Brighton Centre?! I understand the strategy the Netball Superleague are adopting here (I'm not sure if I think it's a good one though), but I challenge anyone to argue that Brighton is in any way part of London.