I disagree anon the stadium was built as a basketball AND entertainment venue.

The state government then built another entertainment venue and passed laws to stop the basketball association in recouping its costs by preventing it from holding any entertainment there.

does that sound like a hand out to you?

AFL in Adelaide get a absolute minimum of 20 thousand people to Footy park every week of the home and away round, probably more.

36ers would be lucky to get 3-4 thousand every 2nd week to the Power House, on an exeptional night they may get 7500.

The government is not worried about participation, they are interested in bums on seats, as most of those "bums" vote.

Its the old "bread & circus" routine from the Roman days; giving the public what they want.

I would also guess that government ministers and cronies would be frequenting the super boxes as guests of the SANFL for mant years to come.

Do Port get that many to a game?

A Clarification, Australian basketball is ranked 2nd in the world only behind America (when Mens and Womens is combined).
Amazing how we don't hear that in the papers isn't it?

For those with long memories it's worth noting that when the idea of building a new stadium BASA was given the opportunity to join with the Government in the Entertainment Centre as a joint Entertainment/
Sports venue with joint ownership. BASA did not like this idea and insisted on building their own stadium. They were still granted a loan from the Government on the proviso that it could not be used as an entertainment venue, and to offset this the Government gave BASA a grant per year. This insistence by BASA to go it alone, and subsequent mismanagement (along with selling Athol Park - what was the money used for), has resulted in Basketball SA selling it's major assets - Stadium & Teams - and they are still in financial trouble. Nothing has improved, even with a name change, and basketball seems to be going backwards. As long as the clubs argue amongst themselves and strive to be the controlling interest/voice then basketball in SA will go nowhere.

Pogo, although they are getting minimum 20k to each game, they would easily spend 6 times as much on running the club. Have about 40 listed players compared to 12. Have probably 3 times as many trainers and coaching staff (although there were alot of blue shirts on the Sixers bench this yr!) You can't compare apples with oranges mate.
Realistically, I think the Sixers need to raise the profile in Adelaide themselves, not rely on BA to do it. Small things like inviting the Crows and Power players to games. Inviting other sporting identities like Hewitt, etc. Inviting any bands or musicians that are in town, or even tv/movie stars. Let's become the LA Lakers of the NBL. Especially when the games are being showed on Fox. People sitting at home will go "shit, look at all the celebrities at the game, if I want to be cool I need to go next game!!!"
The other thing they need to improve on is food! To only have hotdogs and pies and pasties is ridiculous! Let's bring back the Nachos and gourmet dogs, let's bring in some SA food, like Pie Floaters, or yiros', or fish and chips????

I suppose you want "Stella" on tap too Panther!

AFL is a huge business now, easily Australia's biggest Sport's business in terms of Dollars generated.

I am pretty sure that crowds are averaging close to 8 million per season, which I am sure would be more than watch NBL Live and on TV combined for a season.

To me it makes sense why the Government's would be prepared to partner the Crows, they draw in excess of 500,000 (per season) to their home games at AAMI, they have huge corporate support and generate significant dollars in terms of airline travel, accommodation etc. either when they travel, or for interstate people coming to Adelaide.

Just quietly, I am certain I would get better return on my money (both literally and goodwill wise) with the AFL than the NBL.

Panther - that supports Pogo's argument - more players, staff and supporting business is all good for SA.

Governments and councils often fund even losing ventures that bring benefits to the community and economy.

There was a story a few years back. For the same price that Clipsal had the naming rights to the, then, Powerhouse, they switched and got the naming rights to the Clipsal 500 - the difference in press achieved by the two is staggering.

The value of the naming rights deal now would be about 15-30% of what it once was.

Mike, I just read your post. Were it not for State Government Handouts to the AFL, you would not get a penny back for your investment. With ticket sales so cheap, even with a capacity crowd of 15,000 familes getting discounted tickets, because of Australia's obsession with a game no-one else is interested in, and the Footy-culture and rewards from business for footy careers, car-dealerships, pubs etc, we artificially stack the board-rooms with pro-footy elites. Their loyalty to their code, or the 'hand that feeds them' is the major impediment for anyother sporting body to access the kind of sponsorship deals which footy can.
Were it not for this corporate favouratism, money would be available to other internationally competitive sports through sponsorship, making a creer in these other sports a viable option for young athletes.
With the media behind AFL, other sporting bodies do not have a chance. See, our economy is run on addictions. Feed people footy and they will hunger for footy. Make everything about footy, and the SA obsession with an amalgamated club, from all the wealthy clubs- just to keep Port Adelaide from being the first SA club into the AFL, and you can see that the size of the footy lobby in this state is hugely powerful and elitist to boot. As a result, basketball and soccer suffer from inadequate resources as sweetheart deals are struck in the corridors of power to protect our national game. National? It used to be that only South Australia and WA had any interest in Aussie Rules apart from the Melbourne Irish who invented the game. They call that national, where only 5 million out of 21 million have any interest in it, if we measure the populations of Victoria, South Australia (incl NT) and WA. Not exactly indicative of a national sport. there are more kids playing soccer and Basketball than AFL, although figures can be skewed by kids participating in more than one sport.
In Australia, parochialism and the reward-culture for ex-footy players provides the Sport with a much needed buffer against challenges from other Sporting activities. this is nothing more than Protectionism, Yes that ugly word that disappeared in the 1980's when Australia opened its borders to cheaper products, the reinvention of globalisation, and as a consequence, Australian produced goods disappeared from our shelves, to be replaced by imported goods. AFL is the last Australian Product to benefit from Protectionism, and while Footy players, with no particular merits in business acumen, continue to be recruited for the 'fame' they bring, and the 'contacts' then other sporting bodies will continue to suffer.
In summation:
As long as the media continue to put all their eggs in one basket, the stranglehold on 'Parliament' which the Crows enjoy, will mean the Crows continue to 'murder' all other sports when it comes to successful lobbying of Government and corporations.1
The fix is in and always has been.
1, collective nouns for Crows, are a parliament, and a murder. heh heh