Isaac
Years ago

Loss of Kings and the impact on the NBL

Whether this is just doom and gloom seeded by someone sour or an accurate reflection of the state of things, we'll have to see, but this is from the Daily Telegraph:

And the crisis could deepen with the NBL also in danger of being dragged into insolvency by the Kings' demise.

A source close to the league told The Daily Telegraph that without the Kings the NBL is now in real danger of losing $800,000 naming rights sponsor Hummer and its $800,000 pay-TV deal with Fox Sports.

"Who's going to pay Chuck Harmison's wages? Who's going to pay the referees and fly them around to games, and their accommodation? Who's going to pay all the other costs needed to run a league?' the source said.

"It's about $1million to $1.5million to run the league in a cheap way and we have no money. The NBL is in danger of becoming insolvent."


A potential buyer of the Kings, Mike Wrublewski, is saying that he had the backing, but that the NBL's other owners would not let him hold the license and take a season off to return in 09/10.

Two possible situations - the NBL's planned review may want a different/larger owner in place and they don't want to run Wrublewski & Friends for a single season, or other owners know that they can't voluntarily sit out an expensive season and don't want to allow the same of anyone else?

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Kent Brockman  
Years ago

Didn't Hummer come on board out of a deal done in FNQ? That would suggest Sydney not being around would not impact on the sponsor that much.

Also, Pigs move into the limelight of the Sydney landscape and you still have a team in Sydney, right?

However. You dangle the sword over Brisbane and potentially Adelaide and then you would start to worry

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Hummer may have come about from expanding club negotations, ie talking to a FNQ club and then realising that they could go with the whole league. It happened with Philips as well. They were one of the Kings major sponsors, and wanted to become THE major naming rights sponsor, but this was tied up for another season or two. The kind of money they were talking, the Kings sent them down the road to the NBL office and that's where that came from.

The fact remains though that Hummer paid $800,000 for national exposure via the whole league + it's national broadcasts. You pull the plug on 2 of the 3 largest markets, nearly a third of the countries population, and possibly pull the plug on those broadcasts, and suddenly Hummer are either not so interested at all, or certainly not interested at that cost.

It doesn't matter where the deal came from or where it started, but it's value both in what they put in and what they think they are getting in return is determined by it's size and reach.

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Kent Brockman  
Years ago

There is still a team in Sydney, it is just not the Kings.

The Pigs will be winners out of this as they will be able to pick up the Kings players who dont want to move out of Sydney.

Gold Coast will replace Brisbane as they are within traveling dsitance to one another.

So Hummer is stil getting exposure to the markets, that as you say they need exposure to.

It is not like the Kings and Bullets were getting 10,000 people to each game either.

Kings got what maybe 2000 and same in Brisbane. Hardly a big dent in a national campaign if you drop that number.

And it is not like those people will turn their back on basketball. If the sixers dropped dead tomorrow i would still follow the league.

Reply #189631 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I would actually suggest that the Pigs are about to embark on their last season of existence. They have been in the NBL in 10 years, and still have not built up enough of a profile to simply get their scores published in the newspaper. They are a non event and stand no chance of filling any void left by the Kings. To think otherwise means you either have zero understanding of the Pigs place in the Sydney basketball market, or zero understanding of the geography and demography of Sydney.

Reply #189633 | Report this post


Kent Brockman  
Years ago

Getting scores in the paper isn't just a problem for the pigs it is a league problem. Happens in Melbourne too.

We are lucky here we have Boti who fights for the sport.

You said that they dont have exposure in Sydney or Brisbane without the Kings or Bullets.

I have pointed out that they will. What exposure wil they lose if the Kings fall over? Kings not getting exposure already was one of the problems.

As for Fox they have out a proposal to the NBL about doing less away games coverage and sticking to the capital cities.

I dont see them going away as they pay nothing in sports terms to lock up the league coverage.

What will happen will be more Dragons and Tigers games.





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Isaac  
Years ago

189633, get yourself a forum alias - writing some decent stuff and it'd be good to keep an eye out for your posts.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

I don't know how true it is, but there's a story going around that says Foxtels best offer to the NBL currently is sitting at exactly $0.00, and that was before the Sydney/Brisbane withdrawal threat surfaced.

And you're right, it will become essentially a Melbourne-broadcast service. They won't broadcast Pigs games. They didn't like showing them at the SSC and they're about to move to a glorified local gym. You probably play in a better/larger venue for your social games.



Reply #189639 | Report this post


Big Marty  
Years ago

West Sydney need another 2002 Grand Final appearance with an A-List lineup.

If you were to actually take over the contracts of the ex-Sydney team, you'd stand a greater chance of a young, high-impact side.

Might actually be capable of shaking things up and making a finals appearance once again.

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