Isaac
Years ago

Kings owner likely to hand back licence

The Daily Telegraph has learned from several sources that Johnston has finally realised that he's run out of options, time and big promises of cashed up Philippino businessmen to save the team he has plunged into crisis from not paying his players.

It is understood that the league is working closely with a new consortium ready to take over the Kings with a bold bid to keep the Sydney sporting icon and the NBL's best known team alive.
Full story: Daily Telegraph: Kings back from the brink

The consortium mention only wants the team if it comes without the debts that Johnston has racked up.

Next up, the Bullets.

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Mookie  
Years ago

I don't think this will be the last we here about Tim Johnston web of woes.

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bretts the man  
Years ago

Welcome back Isaac and thanks for raising one of the biggest issue in NBL history the future of Sydney and Brisbane teams . they need to be rescued asap to ensure the NBL has a bright future. we will not get the TV coverage required to grow sport or sponsors and owners to put money into teams and league if we havent got major cities involved.
However by next season we need a total revamp of management and competition .
The interest in netball with new competition and more importantly virtually every match covered by Foxtel has been huge and it is not seen as a huge viewing sport . Lot of games are scheduled on Mon. night etc to meet with Foxtel quiete times.
PLEASE HELP me understand how what has happened in over the salary cap teams SYdney and Brisbane how they are letting it happen again with the Dragons .
They already must be over the cap and how they are going to fudge the points to be legal

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Point taken about the salary cap, and I certainly agree 110%, although I think it's important to realise that the problems the Kings and Bullets are currently facing have nothing to do with blowing out the cap, or 'the Goorjian Curse' or anything else like that.

Both teams blew the cap to varying degrees (Sydney by a few hundred thousand, Brisbane by perhaps as much as a million or more) and both teams were losing money (Sydney in the millions) and certainly these are the things that need express attention from the NBL. How can they stop teams overspending to buy success? How can they make a Sydney franchise workable in such an expensive market?

However, in these two cases, what has sent both teams down has been ownership issues completely unrelated to the basketball business. Groves and Johnston ran full speed into their own walls, and it's these smaller side businesses that suffer.

But again, point taken. If these teams were more responsible, or ran a sharper business, moving on to new owners would not be so difficult.

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Pogo  
Years ago

Might as well not bother handing back the license.

Its not worth the paper its written on.

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bluey  
Years ago

Just one thing on the whole netball being popular a friend of mine works at Holden's they are a sponsor she was given ten tickets and knows quite a few others that were given tickets for that particular game and subsequent games. She struggled to give the tickets away to others now she just refuses to take the tickets when offered. She expected with all they "hype" of a new league there would be lots of people interested, but she really struggled.

Now I reckon she would be the demographic of people that they would want and so are her friends, but no one wanted tickets. I thought I couldn't careless about netball, until they went and became the Port Power Netball Club and alienated alot of people. Of course I am only talking about SA here - not sure how it is going interstate, I have fox and avoid it like the plague.

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bretts the man  
Years ago

bluey good points though they are getting well above what they used to. Many stadiums around 2.5 to 3000 are selling out more so in NZ.
But main point is getting Fox on board by playing games in times that suits Fox has got them on TV and creating more interest . Yes NBL is a better TV viewing sport so to get things going again poss. way to go especially as even less on Mon nights etc in summer on TV. Mon. nights is big in NFL.
But please someone do something and dont let NBL shrink into non existence

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Anonymous  
Years ago

bretts the man why do you think the NBL play games on Wednesdays?

It's certainly not because the clubs/fans want them!

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Isaac  
Years ago

I've struggled to give away tickets in the past to basketball and even opening nights for movies - not sure that it's unique to netball.

The list of teams facing financial issues aren't limited to those killing the cap - Wollongong and West Sydney are examples - both teams partly suffering as a result of other teams busting the cap, IMO.

What's Fox worth to the league? Not sure of the impact on sponsorship, but I'd argue (well, at least a little bit) that it's not worth that much to teams like those in Adelaide, Perth and FNQ who can draw a crowd whatever happens (Adelaide can get 3,500+ with a crap roster on a crap day against crap opposition). And when it comes to Sydney, are the Wednesday games worth it? If they get 2,500-3,000 on a Wednesday but 4,500-5,000 on a Saturday, the cost of pandering to Fox is significant - I think they have 9 games on Wednesday or Sunday: 9 games x 2,000 fans x ticket cost. That adds up.

The Dragons are being given free reign because the league has no proof they are over the cap, don't want to piss off an owner, don't want to disrupt what could be league-saving derbies in Melbourne, etc.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

The Kings never adjusted their marketing to suit Wednesdays though. Still insisted on promoting the team in the suburbs to the family market. They've never, ever focused on what could be a great demographic for them - 20-35, 'single' (ie no family), work in the CBD within walking distance of the Ent Cent, many living within a short radius of the CBD in the inner east/south/west - the kind of people for whom going out on a weeknight is the norm, and doing something in the city on a weeknight is more a convenience than a hassle. They took one shot at the upper corporate end of the CBD, and the rest still at the families that will never, ever travel into (or back into) the city on a weeknight/school night.

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