theres a good start. lets just hope the NBL keeps up with advertising and doesnt rely on word of mouth or something stupid that doesnt cost them money

Good start so far.

The 36ers will increase as the wins and highlight reel increases especially if Winder keeps producing highlights.

Hopefully the Kings can keep those crowd numbers consistent for their sake with their league return.

Keep up the advertising and we'll be ok.

Good news. Hopefully Melb can boost and Sydney can keep the crowds for the good of the NBL in general.

Super keen for another Winder-Blinder. Bring it on.

ShaneD

From a position of having put little thought into this I think a chunk of the increase can be put down to the NBA being on One and the move to NBL to One.

People see more basketball and get into it more and it is now easier to follow their team during the season.

Not that this is ground breaking news but it is still great for the sport we all love.

ShaneD - not sure about Melbourne getting a boost, I believe the 'Cage' only holds just over the 3000 mark (3091 might be about full).
IMO the Adelaide crowds will improve. I think a lot of people are waiting for positive results (given last seasons record).

anon12 you make adelaide supporters sound like port adelaide supporters. Wait for good results then come to games lol. I do agree though i think the better we do the more people will keep coming

The good start to the season is almost exclusively down to the Kings being back in the league - they drew 8k on the back of some good hype and promotion and a discounted ticket offer.

Lets analyse it - the 3k the Tigers got was 400 short of a sellout - considering they got prime time, first up against the Kings, first up on One HD, first up game of the season and NOT competing against junior basketball in melbourne they should have sold out - by any measure a non sellout is disapppointing.

The Adelaide crowd was the lowest at the Dome in 2010 (and they have played 5 games there in 2010, when they were on the end of a poor season). It was also 500 less than the last time Adelaide played the Wildcats at home.

The Hawks had a solid crowd against a poorly drawing team in Gld Coast and that is good news but well short of their average of 3700 per game at WEC.

the Kings 8k is great news - fantastic and unlikely to be bettered this season

The reptile rumble underperformed - just. they were 100 down on the last time they hosted Cairns.

If there is a silver lining, the NBL always starts poorly, but it should have been better considering rivalry match-ups (ade v per, Twn v crn and Mel v syd).

One weekend does not a summer make. On a like for like comparison, Ade, Twn and Wollongong performed poorly - melbourne in context poorly and the Kings superbly.

Unusually poor analysis from you HO - you really need to compare apples with apples, ie first round crowds, for which the results in Adelaide, Wollongong, Sydney and Melbourne were strong results, while Townsville's was similar to last year's average attendance off the top of my head.

In fact, I am pretty sure it was the Tigers' best ever opening night crowd at the Cage despite competing with live free to air tv.

Similarly, Adelaide's crowd was around their average attendance the past few years - average attendances pick up as the season progresses - despite being against a live FTA broadcast that rated very well.

Take the Kings out of the equation and the average for the first round was still 3900, higher than the league season average, including playoffs, since either 2002 or 2003.

With games in NZ, Melbourne, Wollongong, Cairns and the Gold Coast this week it will be hard for them to replicate such great numbers, but an average of anything over 3500 this week would be another strong result.

It certainly doesnt help that parking at 'The Cage' isn't adequate and also not all that easy to access via public transport.

The Dragons may have been losing money playing at Hisense Arena but it added more entertainment, was easier to get to on public transport and was funnily enough a lot easier to find a park.

After being at the game on Friday night, I am really wanting the South Dragons back!!

shite paul, am feeling very low now mate!

Considering the amount of promotion of the games, via ten hd advertising, the nbl actually running a campaign, full page newspaper adds... etc etc then I think the comparison on previous games between the sides is fair. I did acknowledge that crowds start poorly in the NBL.

Is apples with apples comparing the opening weekend or similar games between these two opponents? I think my apples with apples is ok.

last year started with:

New Zealand vs Cairns (no rivalry)
Wollongong vs Perth (some rivalry but that would have been better this year)
Gold Coast vs Townsville (rivalry)
Cairns vs Adelaide (no rivalry)

So last year none of the big drawing clubs played at home opening round (Twns, Ade or Per) and the games were pretty low rent. AND last year was the same weekend as the AFL GF.

I think the conditions this year set the stage for much better crowds, two of the big drawing clubs started at home, (Ade and Twn) with bigtime opponents, the Kings should have helped melbourne fill the Hockey Centre and Wollongog possibly should have done better considering their GF appearance. Only the kings met expectations considering the scenario AND the season started well clear of the closure of AFL and NRL.

BTW, the NBL release quotes last years opening games by club by opening game - last year Ade opened their season in round 2 against NZ (who cares) and drew 4671 - so the number against the big rival perth is not great. The tigers opening game last year was also against NZ, so the NBL comparing that to this years opening against Sydney is also poor.

HO, indirectly your argument does have some kind things to say about the league - they avoided rival code finals, they opened with blockbusters, and they marketed the games. And not as though the NBL are alone in framing figures in their most positive light.

Spot on Isaac. I think the league created better conditions than it has in the past for opening weekend success - i just cannot see how they can claim, outside of sydney, that it happened. And I did say the Kings result was fantastic.

Sorry HO, maybe that came across a bit harsh!!

I dont think that good promotion or scheduling can be used to discredit good crowds. Given the league average for the past 7 or 8 seasons, including playoffs, derbies and all the rest, has sat roughly between 3200-3700 with the early rounds well below that, this was a very strong result - 4800 or 3900 without Sydney.

Getting over 5000 to BMC against a live FTA television feed was outstanding. Melbourne got (I am pretty certain) their best opening crowd at the Cage despite a live FTA feed. Townsville and Wollongong were solid numbers.

No one is saying the NBL is back to the glory days already, but I think it should be acknowledged that this is the best start to the season in a very long time.

It depends on your definition of embarassing. I think they had around 2500 there last night, which is considered a pretty good basketball crowd in NZ.

They said 2,200 during the coverage last night. Bit average considering the strength of the team and opposition. Might've lost the progress they were making the year before last when they snuck into the finals? (And were talking about playing home finals at Vector.)

Wonder if it being a Wednesday night and not their normal Thursday contributed?

Breakers first round crowd last year was 2428. Last night I estimated 2500, the commentator estimated 2200, either way it is similar to last year. An average crowd.

It certainly isnt 'embarassing' as was suggested earlier. Embarassing was when they used to struggle to get more than 1000 people into the North Shore.

Adelaide's home opener last year was 4671 on a Saturday night. There was no TV that night, so I think to get 5021 on a Sunday night against a strong FTA TV audience is outstanding.

The key now is to keep getting those number and build on it.