And by what do you define "success" as?

I think it's already something of a success - 80-100+ players and coaches are employed and thousands go to games and are entertained. But obviously there's a long, long way to go until the league is where it could and should be.

I suspect that there will be few improvements from the NBL themselves this year and that most small-scale changes will be at the club level, just trying to stabilise and improve their footing. Hopefully then we see more from the league itself next season.

Yes: the league and the game will not lose any of the current fans. The game is still strong and the comp will be close

No: we won't attract many new fans to the game due to the lack of promotion and media coverage. I don't believe the best talent is on the floor and the quality of imports is not as high.

But we have a league so let's all get out there and do our bit - any little bit counts... if you're on this site u love the game

No, nothing has changed, is the same old NBL, can u believe the lack of marketing and launch, its seriously ridiculous, the should have had a year off and launch it as a true national competition ie sydney/brisbane teams.

why?

It will be a succes in certain regions of our country, but without proper marketing and promotion in Sydney and Brisbane with big crowds like we use to see when D-Train and Mike Mitchell were doing their thing, NBL will never be great

Yes: People will still come to the games

No: We just don't get it.
How to promote the game that is.
20 years ago netball was MILES behind basketball and with no apparent chance of making up the gap.

Arguably now they leave us for dead.

Why? Promotion and engagement.
1. Their game is promoted better. eg TV, billboards
2. They have it on free to air.
3. And they engage with their audience.

Anyone see the netball on the weekend Aust Vs NZ from NZ?

After the game they had tables set up on the court with players from both teams signing autographs (still in their uniforms).

Like it or not some of our marquee players just project as over paid prima donnas that take out of the game more than they put in.

Their league has been refined and revamped, contracted and extended - all with a purpose of giving a market what it wants.

No off court dramas. No drug rumours.

Look at the AFL. Bigger, I know, but when negative coaching practices threatened the product, the rules have been tweaked to protect the brand.

When Brian G reduced our game to a defensive, scragging, cheating, snooze-a-thon we sat back and admired the number of championships he'd won.

Ours is POTENTIALLY a better game but we have definately dropped the ball.
Lack of focus, lack of direction.

Cant agree Sector 7G. Netball receives substantial support due to it being a women's sport, yet attracts similar average crowds to the NBL, and when you consider they have far fewer games, they actually are well behind the NBL.

NBL players are very accessible, but there are always things that can be done better - some teams do the post match autograph/chat session but it should be mandatory.

As for the on-court product, watch a few leagues from around the world and youll soon realise that the NBL is one of the most fan friendly going around – quick, unpredictable and high scoring.

I would say the AFL has much greater problems with the spectacle they put out on the ground, which many fans agree is boring just as often as it is exciting.

Yes, the lack of promotion is poor, but, considering where we were a few months ago I don't think you can blame any outsiders for being a little hesitant.
The people who can make a difference now is all of us. If we get behind Larry and our respective clubs, it will work.

I don't think a significant number have left. Ingles was always going to leave regardless and one of Barlow or Worthington was going to give Europe a crack as soon as they could. Main ones to go are Loughton, Knight and Khazzouh - it happens.

I don't understand the pessimism when it comes to the playing stocks - we still have a very close competition with many of the elite players still hitting the court - Penney, Bruton, Anstey, Ballinger, Redhage, Harvey, Schenscher, etc - all playing in 2009/10.

Are you a Dragons fan maybe?

Its biggest stumbling block is the lack of free to air.Also not enough CABL results in the Sunday"Wail" .But its on Foxtel and I saw a clip for it upcoming on Fox Sports.I-think-I- read-it was being radiocast on ABC.FiveAA will have The 36ers captain Tuesdays @610pm.After the match you can listen to some of the Interviews fresh after the match in the flesh up in the Apollo Room.I hope Rupe sapwell can MC ,I liked his style.If you stay after the match long enough(avoiding bumper cars in the russsian car park)the players wander out across the court.
I have a feeling the players wander about the fuss.Theyre just playing sport theyre not Hollywood.
Anyway why couldnt someone be Inventive and throw some live cam they got on Youtube for the rest of us?

Penney and Bruton would be turning down big Euro offers all the time. Bruton was doing very well abroad earlier this off-season. Redhage and Ballinger are in their prime (Redhage was playing in P.Rico only a month or so ago), Schenscher coming off a great NBL season.

Players would rather go elsewhere because there are higher paying gigs in Europe and the US or they want to give it a crack at some time in their career (the young bigs, Rush, etc). That's been the case for years.

There's a lot to improve about the NBL, but the standard of the games is miles from the top of the wish list, IMO.

I'm not 'settling for too little', I'm making the most of what we do have available right now and the players that are suiting for Australian fans. It should be a pretty entertaining season and decent sales at a few clubs demonstrate good support from fans. It is what it is right now - you can either look at it bitterly or see some positives.

BTW, Saville is in the NBL, playing with Wollongong this season.

The standard of the league is phenomenal. For a league spending $1 mill to have a standard at the level of every national league except NBA and ACB is just incredible.

NBL teams acquit themselves well against international competition, and while a handful of good (but not great) players have left, having only 8 teams means the standard is just as high.

Yes, it would be great to have those few players back in the league, but we have less top players overseas than rugby league, and much much less than soccer.

If you really think the NBL is a poor standard, take yourselfon a holiday through Europe and watch some ball over there - I guarantee you will come back with a new respect for our league.

Saville played last season too and the one before that and before that and so on...
Not sure where you think he's been.

Your original point was about local players leaving and I don't think it's been too significant. Loughton, Khazzouh, Knight or Carter are not drawcards. Ingles was always going, and Barlow's been the only real name departure.

The guys that bring crowds are still here: Redhage, Schenscher, Penney, Bruton, Anstey, Worthington, Williams, Saville, etc.

I will add that this is not an argument with any resolution. You've commented that players have left the league and that's not questioned. But as long as the cream of the NBA isn't in the NBL, there's a subjective argument about talent levels, no matter what.

Given that, and given that individual fans can't dictate minutes per game, which players stay in the league, etc, we might as well appreciate what we have. And with or despite that, what we have got is pretty decent, all things considered.

I'm not content, I'm just trying to spread positive news about what we do have right now to help boost the league and the club owners pushing through tough times. I run this site and spend a lot of time on it trying to generate constructive criticism where it can increase pressure and help and positive views where that's more appropriate (e.g., something like playing rosters that aren't easy for the league to influence).

I'm with Isaac and Paul on this. We have the best available on court this season. We have more talenmt on each team arguably than ever before, with deeper teams as a result of the rationalisation.
Lets get behind it and support it and ensure the league never collapses again.
Players from our league - for both Australia and New Zealand - form the basis of two national teams that are rankedn within the top 15 in the world. And these teams play predominantly with players based in the NBL most of the time. Not a bad effort at all.

LC, I strongly disagree with your comment about having more talent on teams than ever before. The teams through the early to late 90's were easily stronger than what we have now and I'll tell you the huge difference between now and then, is the quality of imports we can attract. While the standard of european basketball is in question by some of you, they still pay the big bucks and attract the better US players. Having said that, it's not as if the NBL was paying huge dollars back in the 90's but good quality imports came, why is that? Becuase the product was better, the league was better and it was a credible place to play.

The timing of our league back then also assisted in attracting a better quality import. However I would argue the quality of our local talent is now far deeper than it has ever been, even if the imports are not.

I'm not supporting the league as much as I am supporting the players, coaches and clubs. Maybe it'd be different if I didn't have family and friends playing, owning, administering, etc, but I still enjoy following the game besides that and despite any frustrations from the league.

The reason many believe that the imports that played during the 90s were better than today's is because the league wasn’t as good, so they could dominate. Now, we have a competition deep with local talent, imports of the same level are just good players in the comp.

Most imports that play here were successful in college and have been double figure scorers in Europe, which is considered very good in that style of play.

The local players who were playing in the NBL in the 90s grew up in an era (70s and early 80s) where there was low levels of basketball participation, far inferior junior development, and where our junior national teams were poor to middling. Ie: a poor depth of talent.

The players playing now come from an era of 500-600K people playing in Australia, and where our junior national teams are considered an international power, despite the massive improvements in basketball around the world. Add to that the fact that there are less teams in the league and New Zealand players now play as locals, further improving the depth.

The level of play now is comfortably better than in the 90s. Back then, it was not unusual for a team to have 3 players on the court who could not hit from the perimeter, now it is unusual to have more than one, if any.

Enjoy what you have got. And don’t come into every season with the expectation that the league, popularity wise, should be back where it was in the 90s. It is simply not possible at this point. Even the A-League with Lowy money is not on FTA and struggles to attract any genuine mainstream interest.

I agree with you 100% on that Anon - club admins and past league admins have certainly dropped the ball - particualrly in the late 90s early 2000s.

But it cant be fixed overnight, and there certainly isn't the money to do mass promotion properly. From what I know, BA has placed a strong emphasis on clubs spending sustainably this year, and expanding community programs. Those are baby steps, but very important ones.

I personally don’t expect a big relaunch next year, the focus needs to be on building slowly from the base up in my opinion.

I don't really recognise any active netball players and maybe one or two A-League players.

The league plugged Barlow and Wortho for a recent Boomers series and neither played - that's the risk in going with individual players.

Can't comment on what netball spent in their ANZ transformation but Paul or HO might know. Remember someone saying they paid for the OneHD privilege?

Netball had serious govt money (and are still no better off than basketball in terms of crowds or media exposure they dont pay for) and soccer had squillions of Lowy dollars and most of their clubs are struggling.

Getting the community angle right in basketball stadiums and schools (ie receptive audience) is far more $$ efficient than running mass media campaigns that are unlikely to convert non-NBL fans (ie most of the poeple that will see them).

A lot of reply's for my first started form

I meant his

What happened to the Assie thing of giving something a red hot go?
A lot of you people out there are prophets of doom, and I think you aren't giving Larry, the NBL and all the team owners half a chance.
I've got my seasons ticket, and I can't wait for the season to start.

The Breakers have done an awesome job in the pre season getting around promoting the game and the club in Auckland and New Zealand. My 2 nephews go to school on the north shore near the clubs base and rung me up fizzing at the bum on how the players had come to school and their mini ball games and spent time with them (they only know kirk penny tho lol). The result is that my sister who hates sport is now the biggest breakers fan in their house and will be taking the family to every home game. I have alot of customers at work who are not historically Bball fans who are now staunch supporters due to the way the club carry themselves in the community. Bring on thurs night.

FTA would be good, but it would cost a lot and there's no guarantee non-fans would watch. I don’t watch motor racing, golf or netball! And I believe just as many sports fans watch fox sports as do One HD (please correct me if Im wrong).

Before spending that money, get into basketball stadiums and reach those people who are already interested in basketball, get them knowing the players and attending games, and once that is moving in the right direction there might actually be a market for the game if it got on FTA.