Complete nonsense.

Gday Mick, as far as the team going ahead I cannot be certain. But the letters are definately genuine. A young aussie from Gosford NSW who has just taken up a Division 2 college scholarship received one on Friday. It is on the Falcons letterhead, it congratulates him and thanks him for his junior reprsentation and wishes him the best of luck in the US. It closes by saying that the plans for an NBL team are in the final stages and that he is one of several locally born players that will be contacted and offered the opportunity to complete for a place on the roster should the NBL team get the green light.
I can't put any more details without the players permission.

If it comes from anon it's gotta be true!

When it happens he will post a new thread!!

Hmm anon or not, im buying this. More teams in the league, the better, as long as the league growth doesnt leave any teams behind, no point replacing one team with another...its sad, and just mad media! Teams need to start to form solid foundations and history. IF bringing in a new team in a small market will be financially sustainable im all for it!

Im going to disagree with " the more team the better the league is". Purely because if there is too many teams the talent will drop, plus we dont have enough of a following to fill heaps of stadiums, i think get 12 teams and keep 12.
if a new team wants to join, look at relocation not expansion after we 12 teams!

3 new teams: Bris, Newcastle, and either a second NZ or a second melbourne team.

Then stop there...

BALLER, remember though that a new team doesn't necessarily cannibalise other crowds. If 4,000 want to go to a game in Darwin and there's no team in Darwin, it's not as though they can go to Crocs or Taipans games instead. If this Newcastle guy doesn't have a team in his home town, he's not going to start it in Hobart instead. If the Hawks didn't exist, the NRE guy wouldn't be propping up Cairns.

The teams obviously draw from the same pool of talent, but the same isn't true when it comes to crowds unless they're in the same city. And even then, Melbourne is split in to Tigers fans and everyone else which is why the Dragons collected followers.

I think right now, the league can support 9-10 teams. 10 would probably be perfect. Any more and people would be complaining that Helliwell is 9th man and not 10th man, ra ra ra.

Nathan Tinkler we salute this,first he owned the Knights then Newcastle united soccer team and now this-fkn great i wish more rich people would do more for the benefit of their community!

Tinkler is making a statement with his wealth isn't he. He's got the most successful rugby league coach of the modern era (Wayne Bennett) to join the Knights and now he is looking to bring Newcastle back into the NBL (good, IMO the league should look at area's without a team instead of a second team in Sydney or Melbourne).

And I think Isaac is right, a team in Newcastle won't take fans from other area's. And besides, people are free to support who they want. I mean, I was born, bred and still live in Adelaide but I don't support the Crows or Power just because they are from here, and when we had a team in the NRL (Adelaide Rams) it didn't stop me supporting the Manly Sea Eagles (2011 NRL Premiers don't you know hehehe).

As for Halliwell? Not a good opener but did anyone wearing a 36ers uniform really have a good game on Saturday night? Hopefully with Diamon Simpson joining the 36ers, Halliwell can go back to the bench and leave DJ to play 35+ minutes at centre and be the focal point of the offence (at least until Balls suits up again).

You know, I think I'd rather watch former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell play than Big Wade :P hehehe

The talent pool is big enough to field another couple of competitive teams so I say go Newcastle!
I agree that the amount of teams should be capped at 12 and if a City wants a team after that they will have to wait till a franchise wants to relocate or folds and bid to buy the license.

Most teams are ten deep. A few years back, there were primary rotations of say eight players and then a couple of project players. The NBL could return to that.

12 teams right away might be a stretch, but a tenth team would work.

Perth are running one import when, if the talent was spread a little more, they would probably need to have two (losing Nevill, say, to another team). Gold Coast either have an import or a decent player or two coming off the bench.

With a new team, once you take out two imports and a project player or two, you're left with six spots. Available this last off-season were:

- Tucker (can't remember if he's naturalised)
- Vasiljevic
- Holmes (until Hinder's injury)
- Vanderjagt (until Schenscher's injury)
- Behrendorff (if he hadn't been injured)
- Kendall
- Jones
- Tait
- Corletto (until Webster needed to be replaced)
- Janev
- Knight
- Dickel
- Ryan
- Scoines
- B Williamson

And possibly a few others, depending on how desperate you were. I wouldn't be rushing to sign a few of those, but only because the talent is concentrated now. If the points cap were adjusted, that would mix things up a bit.

Also, keep in mind that for each extra team, there are $150-200k spots becoming available that are locked up elsewhere with the Redhage, Ballinger, Worthington-types. Might help coax some movement.

The decision should not be based on player depth. It needs to be based on coverage and exposure.

Newcastle, a thrice failed market, will not help TV, which is the NBL's biggest issue right now. In fact, Newcastle will probably hurt TV rather than help.

The priority, and the NBL has said this, is to add a Brisbane team and then a second Melbourne team.

It needs to stick to its priorities, unless of course Tinkler is going to front millions more for live coverage, which would in fact, be sticking to its priorities.

HO, great points.

exactly Isaac, you could even possibly lure back some Aussies from Europe with a sizable chunk of the salary cap plus there are all the young Aussies in college in the States that will be looking for jobs.

Anon: Townsville are struggling to replace injured personnel with any quality talent and you want to bring in 3 more teams to cap it at 12!!!

Over the next few years yes (Brisbane, Newcastle and a 2cnd Melbourne team would be great for the league) and how much $ are Townsville throwing around @ quality talent and who was the last young player they developed into an NBL player?

New Zealands development program has over the last few years filled most holes in the Breakers roster with good quality local players that aren't demanding huge wages and then they jump on guys like Corletto when they pop up. If other teams actually did the same they wouldn't need to buy in guys from other clubs by offering more $.

Anon: NZ have Tallblacks sitting on the bench they are that deep (Pledger, BJ Anthony and Bouchers a former Tallblack). Even their development players have played for NZ. I'm sure in the future some of these guys are going to want to start somewhere if they can't for the Breakers

I would like to see atleast 1 or 2 more teams added in the near future, as Isaac said teams are 10 deep, could easily return to 8 deep rosters with young guys given a go, their are plenty of guys around SEABL, ABL, NZBL who could atleast be solid bench players so i think there is enough depth there, if it got a real concern i guess the nbl could allow all teams to have 3 imports to keep the game standard at a high level if we dont have enough good Aussies

I think we need to get strong teams in as many cities as sustainable so would be happy for 12 teams to happen eventually aslong as they have the right ownership/sponsorship/fan support, even if it means spreading the aussie talent thinner ie guys like Wagstaff could go and start and play more minutes for another team, and adding another import if we are concerned about the quality of the games.

Jonno Re: 3 Imports

the way the NBL has been spitting them out I don't believe that will work. Most teams struggle to find 2 decent Imports let alone 3. We cannot compete with Europes wages for quality Imports so hence the hit and miss over the last few years.

BA did say that Brisbane was the priority , then a second Melbourne team. Although Tinkler has got them very interested.

( As for Halliwell - my friend Serena , says she's got some other kinda lover and has gone next door to see him train , at the Arena.)

Major centres should always be the priority but if some rich cat wants to piss money on Basketball I say good on him and the NBL should help him spend it.

Ng averaged 4.5 RPG in 2008...

Nathan Tinkler's group have publicly stated that they're not looking for entry until 2013/14, because they ran out of time and human resources to get a bid ready for next season, given that they've just finished a lengthy and difficult takeover of the local rugby league team. Also I don't think they've officially settled on Falcons as the team name, so I don't understand why these letters would be going out on Falcons letterhead instead of Hunter Sports Group.

Which is the third team that failed in Newcastle? We've had the Falcons and Pirates, and I would argue that the market wasn't really to blame for the loss of the latter.

I just think yes get Brisbane in as soon as possible. Then make sure the league is solid before a 2nd melbourne team and then look elsewhere after that. Maybe it's time to look at the Christchurch (from memory) bid in 4 or 5 years and split up all that "great tall-black talent" :) mystro speaks of.

The Wellington Saints have expressed interest but NBL is more concerned with Brisbane/2cnd Melbourne team at the moment which makes commercial sense.
The Tallblacks players have proven that they can play successfully on the international stage and at NBL level and demand no where near as much money as top Australian Boomers (bar KP).

Mystro - good imports is hit and miss no matter how much money a club has, European clubs spit them out as much if not more than NBL clubs!

Re Newcastle, I think it is only a good idea if there is a long term (10 year) contracted commitment that still holds even if the owners sell, amongst other commitments.

If Tinkler is involved with both, I could see a possible business model such as Man U or similair, where the admin / management umbrella's both "clubs"...single identity. Would also pose possibilities of cross promotion/membership as the NBL/NRL seasons are pretty much opposite each other.

If done the right way, no reason why a franchise in Newcastle can't survive. Not saying previous involvement did things the wrong way, but the version 2 was always going to struggle.

Believe Tinkler wants a Soccer team as well.

Making a sports hub and cross promote all of them.

ie
10% discount if you do 2 teams
25 % discounts for 3

Smart ideas man who would be able to use his pull on Channel 10 and at government level.

I think he already has the soccer team.

I read somewhere that Victoria has basketball participation per population on par with USA states,now are most of the players crap or what is going on.If the statistic was true there are enough players to fill 30 Nbl teams not just one extra in Melbourne.Again with that why the hell do you need imports with a pool of players that large,i am sure at least 2% must be reasonably talented1

Vodka 93.

Just being sucessful (smart?) in one business does not mean you will succeed in sport. Not a single "smart" business guy in this country has yet made a go of making sports franchises work in the medium/long term.

The majority of NRL, AFL and A-league clubs in this country are leaking cash. Almost all, of not all NBL clubs are.

Make that most pro sports clubs around the world. Big EPL clubs have astonishing debts.

Well done ringlord, for confirming what most readers here already think about your quality posts. Thanks for the laugh.

I'm not saying NZ has all the talent, far from it. Australia demonstrated that in the last series lol.
I am saying that there are players in NZ that can play at NBL level and contribute. Add them to the list of Australians overseas and that missed out on spots this season and poach a marquee player plus 2 reasonable imports and you might find they are a competitive team.

Maybe to expand the interest, they could be called the Hunter Falcons, rather than limit interest to Newcastle. Or do most people in the Hunter identify themselves as Newcastlians anyway?

The talent can come back to the league; the biggest part behind any of this is the money making. That has to come by getting support in the capital cities where big business is.

Beyond getting team coverage in every major centre, you then need a marketing campaign to get the viewers back. I would suspect that you would need to get a good 500k people watching the major games (such as finals) to trigger additional business interest to invest in the league.

Get the right businesses on board, couple that with marketing the faces of the league; somewhere down the line, players may be able to supplement their payslip with sponsor marketing or commercial advertising etc.

Either way, it will take at least 10 years to even get to that point, provided everything goes as planned. Unfortunately the current TV coverage (While there) doesn't help.

Brisbane is a must as part of the whole plan; should melbourne maintain a standard and make the finals this year, then I'm sure the fan-factor may spike and produce business interest in a 2nd team sooner than expected.

I'm also a fan of looking towards getting a 2nd NZ team, like the Wellington Saints (or whatever they're called) in the league. I think it would be an equal boost, or greater boost than having the Falcons back.

Anon, yeah, guys like Ogilvy, Penney, Barlow, etc are not going to get enough back here. Someone like Markovic might be a chance.

After that there are leagues like the one where Carter is playing. Rush already back. Mottram is another one to put on my list of free agents.

why must we always look for imports like someone said there is plenty of talent that just needs to be developed in our own backyard. How many shit imports have come and gone these last couple of season
maybe basketball in australia would be better off if we didnt keep on bringing in all these imports and worried more about what can we do to make the likes of Daly, Warbout better, for example what happened to Molitor wasnt he a developement player a year or two ago from what i rememeber he was pretty good where is he now.
What about all these 19/20 year olds that are starting five in all these ABL teams why dont we develope them
im not sure but there must be some players in SEABL as well

Anon, probably not far off comparable money. He was not their priority target here (Gibson, Schenscher, etc). They offered two years. Also, his girlfriend is from there.

___, championship teams are not doing that. Fans and sponsors press for clubs to win. For every person wanting what you've asked, countless others would clamour for imports, success, etc. Swap out two imports for Molitor and Warbout and I think crowds would fall and Adelaide would struggle even more.

Every team in the league already invests time/contracts in younger players anyway. In Adelaide Creek, Johnson and Weigh all get good opportunities. The league has their YAP/U24 rule and a points cap to force this also.