HoldenV8
Years ago

NBL Attendance - Round 10

Ok, here we go for Round 10 of the NBL season. Not an overly inspirational round and a savage one if like me, you're a 36ers fan.

Breakers vs Blaze - 2,954 @ NSEC (72%)
Kings vs 36ers - 3,264 @ SEC (31%)
Taipans vs Tigers - 4,787 @ CCC (90%)
36ers vs Breakers - 4,350 @ AA (54%)
Crocodiles vs Kings - 3,605 @ TEC (69%)
Hawks vs Wildcats - 2,810 @ WEC (47%)

If the Breakers are struggling to draw a crowd to their usual Thursday time slot why do they have so many of their home games scheduled for those time?

Ok I know Adelaide isn't a great attraction right now since we're losing but only just over 3,000 to a Kings vs 36ers game at the Sydney Ent Cent? With Christmas coming up and Thursdays being late night shopping night why was this game scheduled for a Thursday?? Still, good on those who went I guess.

You've got to give it to the fans in Cairns. 4,787 against the slumping (and Mills less) Tigers shows that they support their team regardless and they are making other markets (Sydney, Wollongong, Townsville) look down right sick.

Smaller crowd than I would have expected against the Breakers here in Adelaide but given our home record, the loss against the Kings 3 days earlier and the loss of Balls it wasn't a bad crowd. I'm hoping that despite the loss of Balls & Cross we pull a good crowd against Wollongong on Friday night because despite our record and injuries I think we can win. Another hard to fathom time slot though with local games also on Friday night in Adelaide more than likely to affect crowd numbers.

Townsville's crowd was about average really. Nothing special but not sinking into the sunset either.

That leaves Wollongong. The Hawks 2nd Sunday home game against Perth in 3 weeks and this one drew almost the same crowd (the Round 7 clash drew 2,812....2 more than Sunday). And the question remains...why as usual was a hawks home game on OneHD? I don't know if this has any affect on the Hawks crowds but out of their 14 home games 11 are scheduled to be televised.

So there you have it for this week. Cairns continues to do well, as does Adelaide. Not sure about Auckland really and Townsville, while not great at least aren't dropping crowds, unlike Sydney and Wollongong. Those two right now are sinking faster than the Titanic and with the Hawks dismal record and Khazzouh leaving the Kings for Golden State things don't look good for improvement.

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natwhereyouat
Years ago

Broadcasting Hawks games would count out a few people, not THAT many. Might be able to break 3000. But it was a mix of shit, 2nd straight Sunday Perth game. Turned a lot of fans off, even though the crowd numbers looked the same, a heap of my friends that usually go to Hawks games, didnt go because they were sick of seeing Perth already. Perhaps the most hated team by Wollongong fans. I only went to show support.. and because i go to every home game.
Otherwise, the match up did not excite me at all.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Only teams holding up well with attendance this season is Adelaide, Cairns and Perth.

Sydney is slumping, but I think their last 2 home games were on a Thursday. They are also recovering from losing home games early in the season when crowds were quite strong, so maybe if they win a few more and getting back to a Friday/Saturday night timeslot should see thier crowds return to 4-5000 at least - hopefully.

Adelaide fans just need to stick with their team this season, as thier crowds are very good considering their bad form. It just depends how patient they can remain, really.

Whilst im not a fan of either the Kings or 36ers, I do hope they can get some winnng feeling next year as they have the venue capacity to increase crowds - just need to win some games!

Cairns are the model team in the NBL - Capacity crowds, vocal and passionate fans, a newish arena with a decent capacity - not too big, not too small. 5300 and has a great setup. Atmosphere looks great on TV...

The Wildcats are very similar to Cairns, but I feel Challenge is still a bit small to cater for Perth's fan base. Wait till Perth Arena is opened.

Melbourne, Townsville, Wollongong, NZ and Gold Coast need a lot of work still. Breakers are getting better crowds than last year, and winning a title will do that, but in the overall picture - 2900 on average is pretty poor. Only an awesome TV deal in NZ is really the only thing justifying having the Breakers in the comp - Sorry Breakers fans, but you need to show better attendance support I think (and a nicer stadium would be good). Maybe Saturday games will help their crowds?

Townsville look a bit stale in my opinion - im not sure what it is, but it doesnt appear that the people of Townsville are that passionate anymore, and the drop off in crowds is a worry.

The NBL needs to put a rocket up the management of the Melbourne Tigers and Gold Coast. Do they actually do anything to promote themselves? Particularly Melbourne.

Wollongong are just rorted with all the Sunday TV games - and with the team playing shit their crowds will continue to go south. Other than that, they have a pretty good base to work with.

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Kings fan.
Years ago

The fact that most of the kings cheer squad have an intellectual disability puts off fashion-conscious Sydney Siders. The kings also advertise heavily on mix 106.5 which doesn't attract the younger, boisterous types.

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HoldenV8
Years ago

So Kings fan what you are saying that some people (fashion conscious Sydney siders) are staying away from Kings games because most of the Kings cheer squad is intellectually disabled? If you're right then those fans aren't real fans and its pretty f**ked up IMO (sorry for the language but unless they are a genuine nuisance then everyone has a right to be a fan and attend games no matter who they are and for those Kings fans being part of the Kings cheer squad would be an awesome thing).

Sport doesn't need people like that attending games and those who don't for reasons like not wanting to be seen with the intellectually disabled should seriously stay away either forever or until they learn to tolerate a lot better (not attending because of that is prejudiced IMO).

Honestly never thought I would see the day when Aussies won't attend a sporting event simply because some of the crowd aren't what they consider to be "desirable". If there was a safety concern (and I would seriously doubt there is) then maybe the decision not to attend would be ok but.....you have to be kidding right??

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Isaac
Years ago

The traitorous Taipans now with the Tigers might've helped the crowd in Cairns.

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Anonymous
Years ago

TV ratings:

Round 10
Sat - Cairns Taipans v Melbourne Tigers, 41,000
Sun - Wollongong Hawks v Perth Wildcats, N/A

http://www.michaeldifabrizio.com/nbl-tv-ratings

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orbit
Years ago

Yep, thanks isaac that's definitely worth noting! The return of dillon, ubaka & Dorsey put quite a few bums on seats & the crowd got a beauty!!

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Charon 18
Years ago

4350 attendence for the 36ers must be some kind of joke.

Including corporates and season ticket holders, they might have "actually" sold that many. But if more than 3000 actually bothered to turn up I'll eat my hat.

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HoldenV8
Years ago

Good point Issac but the Taipans are pulling decent home crowds anyway.....compared to some. Still, seeing former Taipans (and beating them) would have drawn a few people to the game.

Will be interesting to see tomorrow nights 36ers vs Hawks crowd.

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Hoops

NBL Attendance - Round 10

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