Dazz
Years ago

AFL Basketball teams

I keep hearing rumours that certain Victorian teams are contemplating this, although the topic of which team seems to vary with the phase of the moon.

I suppose it makes a certain amount of synergistic sense...
Even the weakest AFL team has a membership base that NBL teams only dream about, so the opportunity to cross-sell is there. Incremental costs of membership management would be smaller.
It would give clubs something to keep their members engaged with during the AFL off-season (other than the usual "player X is training hard".)
Multi-Purpose Merchandise.
Junior participation in Basketball is apparently still huge, so there's an extra opportunity to engage with young fans.
Assuming the initial business case made sense, AFL clubs have much deeper pockets. Heck, why not just sell the whole NBL to the AFL...
Potential "inside track" to crossover players. (Greenwood is supposedly being courted by AFL clubs.)
Just think, if Carlton had an NBL team, their fans might actually have something to cheer about.
Plus everybody could hate on Collingwood, instead of Perf.

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Baller#3  
Years ago

Im a big fan of this style of club, it works very well in Europe for Barca, Madrid etc. why would it not work here.

I also support it for more sports than just Basketball.

For instance an Adelaide version could easily include:
A league, T20 Cricket, Netball and basketball.

Imagine a buzzing club where even if you dont support a certain sport normally, you would probably support your own club if they were playing in that sport. For instance a footy fan might not care about basketball but if the Basketball was under the crows brand that might change.

I think with a 15,000 seat indoor stadium at Memorial drive, this could be a reality.

Adelaide Oval Summer: Cricket and A-league
Adelaide Oval Winter: Football
Indoor Stadium Summer: Netball
Indoor Stadium Summer: Basketball

Adelaide oval precinct would be insanely popular at all times of the year with this model. And team don't necessarily have to even change their nickname, they just have to be under the club.

For Instance:
Football: ASC (Adelaide Sports Club) Crows
Basketball: ASC 36ers
Netball: ASC Thunderbirds
etc...

Obviously revenue would be shared among clubs with the bigger teams such as football getting a bigger slice of the budget etc.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

I would like to see this happen, but I can't see the practicalities of this happening.

A-League have drafted a plan to be the #1 sport in Australia and bigger than AFL and NRL in 10 years time. It is already the #1 junior sport played in the country.

There is more money in cricket than ever before because of the TV sales deals to India. Selling the Big Bash TV rights to India is lucrative and cricket australia wouldn't want to share that with the AFL. Look at the earnings for the top 50 Australian sports stars last year with only 1 AFL player (Gary Ablett) and about 15 cricketers.

Basketball and Netball would benefit the most as they are smaller crowds/members, could leverage development coaches, fitness staff, training facilities, etc. But why would AFL clubs want to bring in an expense business where these sports don't generate profit.

I can see from the basketball fans viewpoint that this would be fantastic, but I can't see from the different drivers and leaders of the sporting organisations that they would want this to happen.

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Grizz21  
Years ago

Richmond Tigers were looking to form an NBL club a few months back. Apparently there is some rule with the AFL licenses that they couldn't make the NBL team the Richmond Tigers which is kind of disappointing because I love the way Barca and Madrid both pretty much wear the same uniforms across their whole club.

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Train  
Years ago

Was it a case of the AFL rules blocking a Tigers NBL team or was it that the United owners still own the IP for the Melbourme Tigers and would not permit the use of the name ? I thought it would of been the latter ?

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Anonymous  
Years ago

How about alienating your already existing supporters. If 36ers joined with Crows I would drop them in a second and I'm sure it would be the same if they joined with Port. Look at the Thunderbirds, were selling out the Entertainment Centre for GFs when they were working with and sponsored by Port but they ended it and moved to pink as they got too many complaints from Crows fans.

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Grizz21  
Years ago

@Train, I believe that all AFL teams are only allowed to use their nickname for there football departments for some reason. I'm pretty sure once a team changes their name like Melbourne Tigers did they have no right to it anymore, just like the Hornets situation in the NBA.

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Dazz  
Years ago

I would imagine that "Melbourne Tigers" is a registered brand name (however that works in Australia...) I'm sure MU still own it.
Wasn't there some bleat about the Gazes trying to get it back from MU. But obviously that wouldn't necessarily preclude a say "Nunawading Tigers" from trading. Any trade-mark infringement action would hinge on damage to Melbourne's business. Hard to argue since they nolonger trade under that name.

With the AFL, my understanding is that the AFL in some way owns or controls all the brands. This not only allows them to maintain "quality control" over all merchandising, but is also designed to stifle any attempt at a breakaway league.

The Richmond plan was probably just an attempt by Cowan to backdoor himself back into the league, but conceptually the idea has merit.
Melbourne AFL clubs are notionally based on some ancient inner-city suburbs, so in reality they fighting for support across the state, based on whatever they can make work.
Starting an NBL franchise, and being the only club with one (or maybe one of only 2) might give them an inside track to some new supporters.

Whilst Richmond are probably one of the less financial Melbourne clubs, there is a big reason for the strong clubs to consider this idea:
The AFL has introduced a punative "super tax" on clubs that spend more than $X on their whole "football department." This includes salaries and other stuff. Unfortunately it also includes all their community development work. The Eagles were forced to axe one of their regional camps this year. (I guess if it didn't, then too many support staff would simply be employed in "CD" roles.)
However an NBL franchise can spend all the money it wants in CD, boosting the brand at zero cost to the football department.

Also, I don't know if Nic Naitanui was paid for his role in advertising the Wildcats, but you'd have to think that any such payments would not be caught by the AFL's salary cap provisions.

How about alienating your already existing supporters. If 36ers joined with Crows I would drop them in a second

I don't understand? You support The Crows, but would stop if they had an NBL team?

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Speed44  
Years ago

When Collingwood and Carlton entered the old NSL, they weren't allowed to use "Magpies" and "Blues" as their nicknames, if I remember correctly.

Collingwood were the "Warriors" and I think Carlton were just Carlton SC.

Neither team was a great success crowd-wise. The AFL fans had no interest in following their clubs in other sports, and I'm pretty sure Essendon and Hawthorn fans had no interest in supporting either.

While I'm not against the idea, I just wonder if the same thing would happen with basketball?

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