Link?

For about a decade Hobart and Geelong have had articles about their aim to eventually get back into the NBL.

It's just too small IMO. With the way the league is going, the demand for high paying talent, large crowd numbers and greater sponsorship investment.. Cairns and Illawarra will be hard enough to maintain let alone other small markets.

Realistically, a second Vic team and/or a second NZ side in 2018/19 will be the focus.


Perhaps after that one or two Asian expansion teams, although the dilution of talent will be problematic.

If anything I believe it should be a "Tasmanian" team rather than a Hobart team. Would attract more fans, more sponsorship which equals more money and better players. Would need to average a minimum 4000 people attending games over first few years to stay sustainable. It could work but would need someone with deep pockets willing to spend for a few years.
I don't think Geelong is possible, very successful SEABL program but can they have a big enough crowd to pay the bills?
2nd Melbourne team in my opinion, maybe a Canberra team too. Then re-assess.

So, Tasmania has a total pop of 520,000 or so, with Hobart being 221,000.

As a comparison:
Canberra: 381,000
Geelong: 191,000
Cairns: 148,000

If Cairns can support a team, it can't be purely population and catchment driven...although the more teams in smaller markets, the higher risk I guess.

Cairns is a bit tourist driven too don't forget.

If the Bullets are playing out of the smaller Convention Centre surely any Tasmanian team could do similar?

Agree that it should be a Tasmania team more than just Hobart, but I'm not really familiar with the area, would there be as tribal a feeling with their teams as say Melbourne or to a smaller extent, Sydney and Kings/Razorback fans and the failed Spirit experiment?

Speaking of touristy comparisons, not trying to generalise, but there are probably very different appeals to those who would spend their time in Tasmania compared to Far North QLD? The people that I know that live in Tas or have moved there or holiday there are the older variety, but that could be a completely unrelated generalisation (lucky for me though that this is the internet, so those are more than acceptable discussion points)

Now's the perfect opportunity for them to take the Tassie Tigers name!

Hobart & Launceston should get together. Two heads are better than one

Bringing back the Hobart Devils would make Mock a VERY happy camper. Great memories and a great franchise.

Who remembers a young Anthony Stewart lighting it up? GREAT bloke too, loves a chat.

I believe the NBL should be 10-12 teams ideally. Players can join from the D-league and get more money. BRING IT ON!

I think people underestimate the distance between Hobart and Launceston.

AngusH and Anon - I can appreciate there might be a bit of a divide between North and South. But the state combined would have a far better chance at financial success than the 2 individual cities. And for a state with no A-League or AFL representation I think it would be important to move in there now (within next 3 years) before it is too late.

This is a state that has produced some very good players of late:
Chris Goulding, Adam Gibson, Matt Knight, Lukas Walker... to name a few. Capitalize now

Not saying its impossible, but the odds are heavily stacked against the feasibility of a Tassie NBL team. Cairns is the closest comparison and to a large extent, Tasmania's economy is also tourist driven but would the same model work? Is there a strong demand from the locals for a sporting code they want to emotionally and financially invest in?

Start improving the Chargers profile and fan experience first I'd say, when its buzzing and the talk of the town every week, then it would be time to revisit the idea.

Don't forget to add Drake U'U to that list too

From my experience, there's not a great deal to do in Hobart and tassie in general. Most events don't go there, and if they do they're terribly promoted locally bar a few concerts here and there.

There's a huge market for any sport that's established in the community to flourish and pull numbers to games. Just needs to be ran properly and it will do great... are Hawthorn still playing games there and involved with the community? If so get them as a partner to help capitalise on attendance and interest

Spot on Ricey! And do so before there is an A-League and/or AFL team. Not that they are direct competition but if you can lock in a reasonable amount of supporters it can grow from there. The SEABL shows there is a basketball community there, but the main target audience would be families whether they are basketball fans or not, that is where the money is.

Haha Watto... and are we counting U'U as a good player of late?!

U'U scored 20 points once! Gotta love the Drake ;-)

Haha I think "once" is the important word there

I didn't say I knew everything or much at all about tassie lol...
But as pointed out, those teams you mentioned aren't based out of Tas and lol at mentioning Hockey. I didn't even know there was a league for hockey anybody paid attention to lol
I'm not even sure what you're arguing actually. Does anybody?

I'd love a team there from all of Tassie and that point about north and south hating one another and not attending games at others stadium.... that's fine because as far as i can see it, if the team makes finals and they have to choose between Hobart and Launceston then we know what the NBL will do; they'll go with the one that makes the most money so if fans from both cities get out to games in part out of spite so the other may miss out on a finals game or less games the following season then use that...create a rivalry between the fan bases. Heck even have the team wear a different home jersey for each venue which could mean more merchandise monies. (Yes old Devils inspired jersey for Hobart and Launceston city casino inspired jersey for the other)

Love that concept proud! Splitting home games could really revolutionize the way smaller markets operate

HiNRG, I'll assume that's an ironic post, because it's completely untenable to have a team split its games between two cities. Who would buy a season membership to a team, when they will see half of the home games or less?

It's a stupid idea.

I'm pretty sure Freethrows was just having a laugh, pretty obvious you'd sell memberships in accordance with the number of games in each city!

The north-south rivalry won't be all that relevant if the club does the grassroots work needed and markets to kids playing basketball, who then nag their parents to go to a game.

I thought the idea of a half-season membership was a good idea. A city like Hobart could struggle on it's own to create enough interest and money to sustain in the NBL nowadays. A whole state is the answer to this. However considering the vast distance between the 2 cities you could not expect Launceston residents to drive a 4 hour round trip just to watch a 2 hour basketball game. So surely the "share" concept could have some merit.

It amuzes me when people simply post on here "stupid idea" instead of suggesting their own "great idea".

The Tassie 2 headed idea is solid.

Hahaha. I originally mentioned the Launceston/Hobart split just so I could mention "2 heads" in a thread about Tasmania

lol try again, anon?