A Venue fit for TV

[spacejammer]

Hi I was thinking about it yesterday and I was wondering what exactly makes a venue fit for main TV?

The Sky cameras seem to regularly go to the Copper box but they don't seem to go to the Nix, Surrey, Plymouth or Bristol.

I thought Surrey Sports Park was a venue that was televised for other sports like Netball and used to feature on the old sky and same with the Pavillions.

I'm also struggling to see the difference between the Nix venue and the set up for the Glads or Sharks in terms of venue style.

[lochrocks]

Surrey, Plymouth have been used for past games, possibly Nix as well but not quite sure.
Bristol is tiny basically just a large gym hall, so not really suitable.

[spacejammer]

Oct 1, 2023 9:19:44 GMT lochrocks said:

Surrey, Plymouth have been used for past games, possibly Nix as well but not quite sure.
Bristol is tiny basically just a large gym hall, so not really suitable.

I know but I don't think Surrey or Plymouth venue were on TV last season.
Nix I know definately haven't been on TV at home and i don't know why.
With them having their own facility I would have thought the league would want it on TV?

Bristol seeing how they have the crowd literally surround the court I can sort of understand why they wouldn't have their venue on TV.
Although I imagine when they get their new arena that will change.

[LTfan]

As far as I’m aware Surrey has never been selected for Sky coverage. Plymouth has, many times, but not so far this season.

[swimmingbadger]

Oct 1, 2023 10:18:21 GMT spacejammer said:

Oct 1, 2023 9:19:44 GMT lochrocks said:

Surrey, Plymouth have been used for past games, possibly Nix as well but not quite sure.
Bristol is tiny basically just a large gym hall, so not really suitable.

I know but I don't think Surrey or Plymouth venue were on TV last season.
Nix I know definately haven't been on TV at home and i don't know why.
With them having their own facility I would have thought the league would want it on TV?

Bristol seeing how they have the crowd literally surround the court I can sort of understand why they wouldn't have their venue on TV.
Although I imagine when they get their new arena that will change.

If rather than when with Bristol's venue I'd imagine!

[Stephen Abootman]

I think the differences are fairly easy to spot aren't they? The venues that do get used for TV have the larger capacities, seating on at least two sides if not all four, branded floors (in most cases) and basically just look like arenas suitable for professional basketball at this sort of level.

The venues that don't get used are appreciably smaller, in the case of Surrey and Bristol have seating on only one side and just look like multi purpose leisure centres. Cheshire's venue is probably the best one that doesn't get used and certainly a significant upgrade on Northgate but it still looks a bit leisure centre-ish to me. Instead of proper seats doesn't it also have that not very professional looking plastic bench seating that has largely disappeared from other venues.

[dexter]

The decision of what venues get onto TV must be made by the BBL not Sky, because Surrey Sports Park does get on Sky Sports for Surrey Storm. Personally I think it's a really nice looking venue and I don't really understand why it's too small when Ponds Forge was a favourite venue last season.

[reallyoldfeenixfan2]

Oct 2, 2023 17:43:00 GMT Stephen Abootman said:

I think the differences are fairly easy to spot aren't they? The venues that do get used for TV have the larger capacities, seating on at least two sides if not all four, branded floors (in most cases) and basically just look like arenas suitable for professional basketball at this sort of level.

The venues that don't get used are appreciably smaller, in the case of Surrey and Bristol have seating on only one side and just look like multi purpose leisure centres. Cheshire's venue is probably the best one that doesn't get used and certainly a significant upgrade on Northgate but it still looks a bit leisure centre-ish to me. Instead of proper seats doesn't it also have that not very professional looking plastic bench seating that has largely disappeared from other venues.

Sheffield was used a number of times and all you got to see was a big curtain behind the benches.

As for " not very professional looking plastic bench seating " it's much better than seeing extremely well presented quality  individual seating EMPTY!

OK I'm biased  but  I'd rate the atmosphere in that  "leisure centre" as amonst the  best in the league. Come and see/ hear for yourselves.

[Stephen Abootman]

Was Ponds Forge really a Sky Sports 'favourite' last season? Don't think I watched a single televised game there. Didn't even realise it was in the rotation. That one I can't explain but by and large, I think the venues that do get used all tick fairly obvious boxes that the unused venues don't.

I've been to Surrey Sports Park more times than I can count. And I honestly quite enjoy attending games there. But I strongly disagree it's a venue that would look good on TV. All you'd see in the background would be blue walls.

I have been to EPSV. Admittedly only once and it was a long time ago. Don't remember the atmosphere. Don't even remember the game. I think what lets the place down more than anything aesthetically is that it's more or less totally unbranded. The court itself is completely blank, there are no banners on walls. Perhaps I'm just terribly unobservant but I think you could very easily watch an entire game at that venue, on camera, and not see 'Cheshire Phoenix' mentioned anywhere other than on the team's kit. Sure there are fewer visible empty seats than at some of the bigger venues. But I'll have to respectfully disagree with anyone who thinks that makes it a better advert for a professional basketball league than say Leicester Arena or the Copper Box. Unfortunately Eagles seem to be only basketball club in Britain right now that can get close to packing out a good sized venue on a regular basis.

[reallyoldfeenixfan2]

Oct 2, 2023 22:47:57 GMT Stephen Abootman said:

Was Ponds Forge really a Sky Sports 'favourite' last season? Don't think I watched a single televised game there. Didn't even realise it was in the rotation. That one I can't explain but by and large, I think the venues that do get used all tick fairly obvious boxes that the unused venues don't.

I've been to Surrey Sports Park more times than I can count. And I honestly quite enjoy attending games there. But I strongly disagree it's a venue that would look good on TV. All you'd see in the background would be blue walls.

I have been to EPSV. Admittedly only once and it was a long time ago. Don't remember the atmosphere. Don't even remember the game. I think what lets the place down more than anything aesthetically is that it's more or less totally unbranded. The court itself is completely blank, there are no banners on walls. Perhaps I'm just terribly unobservant but I think you could very easily watch an entire game at that venue, on camera, and not see 'Cheshire Phoenix' mentioned anywhere other than on the team's kit. Sure there are fewer visible empty seats than at some of the bigger venues. But I'll have to respectfully disagree with anyone who thinks that makes it a better advert for a professional basketball league than say Leicester Arena or the Copper Box. Unfortunately Eagles seem to be only basketball club in Britain right now that can get close to packing out a good sized venue on a regular basis.

Fair point about the branding/nothing on the court floor/ banners. TBH it wasn't something I noticed that it wasn't there especially the lack of any Phoenix signs, something to whisper in people's ears at the next game. We'll agree to disagree on the value of full/partly empty areas.
Come back to the EPSV, it's a great night out with much bigger crowds in the last couple of seasons than earlier years.

[LTfan]

Oct 2, 2023 19:00:18 GMT dexter said:

The decision of what venues get onto TV must be made by the BBL not Sky, because Surrey Sports Park does get on Sky Sports for Surrey Storm. Personally I think it's a really nice looking venue and I don't really understand why it's too small when Ponds Forge was a favourite venue last season.

It's a shame there's no way of getting the camera set-up on the other side facing the crowd. I don't think a venue needs to have a crowd on both sides to be on TV, but it needs to have a crowd visible on camera. Although, as has been said, Sheffield appears to be the exception to that rule the last few years.