A smart move by the clubs. It was never a good idea to let the lunatics run the assylum.

Yep. Good. More business knowledge in the range of NBL owners than in BA. Time to go for it.

Except when it kept the league alive, of course. But now some of the basic work has been done the model is holding the league back, it needs staff dedicated to running the NBL alone.

My preferred model would be an autonomous NBL still under BA's roof in case of future issues, but hopefully the clubs have learned their lesson from last time and dont repeat the same mistakes.

A largely independent board is a must, the people making decisions need to be able to do so for the good of the overall league.

Quote: from the article...

But the commercial viability of the NBL has not always been compatible with BA's high performance goals.

With entertainment value a key component of the NBL and its commercial aspirations, the split was inevitable.

The landscape has changed since BA took over running the NBL in 2008, the league then in disarray, owners spending more than their teams could earn and a recipe for disaster simmering.

It exploded after the 2008-09 season with the loss of clubs such as Sydney Spirit following Sydney Kings into obscurity, South Dragons winning the championship and withdrawing, Melbourne Tigers on the brink of splitting.

Singapore Slingers also had come and gone, the NBL in danger of imploding.

But BA saved the day and saved the league.
It completed a five-year, free-to-air television deal with Network Ten, regained the Kings, watched attendances and ratings improve and this past season introduced NBL.TV which provided live game coverage across digital platforms.
_______________________________________

Interesting, so BA saved the NBL with a lucrative TV deal after it took over and watched it nearly implode?

Whatever happens from now on, at least we are going to see some change, that is what was needed above all...

Watch this space!

Another article: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/more-sport/breaking-away-should-give-nbl-a-chance-to-get-things-right-on-and-off-the-court/story-fnduixme-1226633540889

Talk of returning the NBL office to Melbourne and potentially a return to 48 minute games.

The role of BA in "saving" the league is very much overstated.

BA conned the NBL owners into joining BA under the promise of millions in Federal Government funding.

BA then tried to foce the owners to hand over all of their intellectual property for no fee. That meant if Bendat in Perth wanted to sell the Wildcats he couldn't as he no longer owned the brand.

When that fell over BA then told the NBL that they couldn't get funding because there are private owners involved. Of course A League doesn't have any high profile private owners , that is why they get 10's of millions from the government.

FTA deal happened despite BA trying to stop it. It happened because of Seamus and Dodo connections. Dodo connections again popping up now though they are ex Dodo now.

The NBL owners have largely been off setting other cost centres of BA and they have finally called them out on it. Income that was due to the NBL being sent into high performance areas - hence the comments from BA about that.

This is a good step for the NBL. Ownership stability is key.

I think its probably a good move - and the goals of the NBL and BA don't always coincide, so independence seems the logical choice.

That said, most think the current model is flawed and needs some major overhaul to get the foundation fixed. I would have thought a longer transition with BA and an independent board being involved in the "hard" decisions that need to be made would have been more appropriate.

NBL is entertainment, so business leaders with solid marketing experience are a must. But it is also the premier league of our sport and I would hate to lose focus on that and on ensuring a sustainable future with the right safety measures in place should things go wrong.

"So what happens to the WNBL?"
They are free to do their own thing like they've always done.

"what happens to SEABL and the development league?"
If SEABL is smart they'll abandon plans to let BA take control too. The "development league" was always going to be a non-event.

"What happens to the working relationships between those leagues?"
To what working relationship do you refer? There is none, never has been & likely never will be.

"Who will run the refs?"
Who ran the refs before the NBL came under BA control? I guess the same outfit.

In that case BA may need to step in and oversee the SEABL and BigV situation, if there is going to be one that is...?

Don't we all want to see the NBL do what it should, expand into an exciting and well recognised national competition?

The SEABL and BigV need to keep things going and become that second tier competition that encourages development of it's junior youth leagues while staying in touch with the general basketball public.

If it is egos or another issue that gets in the way, then maybe it is BA's job to sort out the SEABL and BigV so we can finally start seeing some positives come from the sport, at all levels...

I don't know much about BigV but as an outsider looking at SEABL, it's run far more prfoessionally than anything the NBL does despite having infinitely less resources available. Letting BA take over would put that in jeopardy I think. Their promotion of NBL & related media (website, Livestats, social mdeia, etc) was simply terrible.

I agree, if it ain't broke don't fix it, for sure the SEABL is really good, very enjoyable and competative.

I was trying to guague why there may be a suggestion that SEABL and BigV will get at each other's throats again??

It shouldn't happen, but if it did, then what.......!!? SEABL should be big enough and good enough to hold it's own, end!

SEABL and Big V won't be at each others throats that is a ridiculous suggestion. The big wealthy clubs choose to play in an interstate competition, whereas some bigs, the medium and smaller clubs play in the state league. The two are not even in competition with each other and the two offices have a strong working relationship which they have not had before largely to the SEABL office being in BA and assisting clubs with their immigration paperwork. Geez people like to build up crap that is not there.

That being the case, and I am happy the way SEABL is too, what should BA be overseeing??

There isn't much left, what will they do other than international and junior national tournaments?

I guess there's still plenty of work ahead of BA...

So if the NBL runs itself, what happens when one of the owners / teams hits financial trouble when there's no BA to bail them out?
Sounds like it will become a Dutch auction: seven teams - oops, make it six - hold it, down to five ...
Will we eventually end up with a league of just the Wildcats and the Breakers? Great for youth development - NOT !!

Will BA have to organise a different TV contract for the Boomers & Opals from the one the NBL will negotiate? The more we split our organisations, the less bargaining power basketball will have in general.

Good for the NBL and even better for the clubs.
No more participation fee
No more bullshit
Time to get a billion sponsors logos on jerseys
Better tv deals , individual deals with local networks
48min games

Really interesting apparently Perth and Melbourne are behind the new push. Considering it was Perth and the Dragons before they pulled out. Any chance of a return for the South Dragons?

Now we're talking, Go Dragons!

Bring back Joey Ingles #7 too.....

Same thing they did when Gold Coast collapsed, nothing. At least they said no dice to Townsville but they haven't bailed them out.

Dome Rat.

It would be difficult to refute the truth of what you have written - if you had written any at all.

That is just paragraphs of supposition, misinformation and rubbish.

The old NBL was a basketcase and next to broke
but things could be easily fixed.
The review into the sport came up with being one body,not ideal , but
NBL owners were expecting Govt.funds .

HO post your email address and i will send you the documents

Dome Rat, happy for Isaac to send you my email address, he obviously has it, but I won't be posting it here!

Ultimately, whether the NBL is a part of BA or not the thing that really matters is whether it is well run.

Splitting wont bring any magical improvements, the league was a basketcase before the merge.

But if the de-merger coincides with the clubs bringing in professional league management with the realm to make big picture decisions without regular interference from clubs then it gives the league the chance to make some serious steps forward after a few years of small steps.

Mentioned on Twitter that this likely means the end of deals with Sporting Pulse (stats) and And 1 (uniforms). Not sure many tears will be shed in either case, to be honest.

It'd be funny if BA tried to make a competitor league out of SEABL/Big V. I'm assuming this split is mostly amicable, but if it isn't, we could see all sorts of hilarious stuff.

Well said, paul.

I'm looking forward to the competence of the NBL clubs and any newly formed governing bodies being tested: this should give us an idea of just how commercially viable the league can be.

Issac, who do you think will make the NBL uniforms if And1 doesnt? Could The NBL get a deal with a large brand?
also, do you think the nbl spliting away from BA will help make the league bigger and better overall?

Well, the breakers definitely sound like they have their heads above water:
http://melbourneunibasketball.org.au/news/2013/nbl-breakers-head-coach-reminisces-with-the-black-angels

Adidas, Nike or Jordan Brand Uniforms would be sweet.

Have heard the And1 rumour for awhile. apparently BA is behind in payments with them

Under Armour should make a play in our market.

I'd still be happy with Adidas or Jordan brand.

Jordan? Ha. tell them there dreaming!

cant afford And1? wont be affording jordan any time soon!

Has anybody thought about what Keneally has done for BA since been CEO has not been that great. She has now lost them control over NBL. Though she probably is in tough situation but to rate performance as CEO so far is probably a fail

Any of my fellow Wildcats fans remember which mob the made the sublimated polo with this year? The one that got them into hot water with And1 and they had to start selling $50 copies of newspapers that came with "a free polo"?

The And1 deal expired at the end of this season anyway.

Just hookup a deal with some asian company like Li-Ning

And 1 contract was SUPPOSED to have expired end of last season, but no one could confirm if it did. In fact, many people had been saying that it had another year to run, which means that BA would have extended the original contract without going back out to tender again.

I have the original tender documents that state this (expires March 2013).

So many people worried about how this is going to affect basketball in this country because its going to create all these so called issues with who's going to work with who, and what happens if, blah blah blah.

Finally the league will be run for PROFIT, not to stay afloat. If this group of investors isn't basketball savvy, who really cares as we know Stern wasn't exactly the rain man of basketball. If the league is profitable, that means one thing, it's doing well.
Referees will still be paid per game, not employees of a government company (never really had been).
Teams won't start dropping off because they will have a league spending money where it is needed nationally to improve the entire fan bases, and with some profit sharing these poorer clubs will begin to see some daylight.
The AFL and NBL are nothing alike. AFL looks after a sport that has no large international code like Basketball, so therefore them running their sport is completely different.
Sponsorship deals should now become stronger, more profitable and conform with the league much more.
SEABL and all of them have nothing to do with NBL now, so why would the split from BA have any impact on them?
Any brand deals with Nike or And1, etc, should all be sorted by each team. A league brand sponsor should only be a major like Nike or Adidas, as they have the dollars and reach to the population to better the fan bases.

Unfortunately big brands like Nike and Adidas are not interested in the NBL, but you are right, teams should be able to make their own deals whoever they want for their uniform/merchandise.

Breakers have a local sponsorship deal with Nike for team footwear already.

Given all the current troubles keeping NBL teams afloat, how's it going to be any better if the NBL goes it alone?

Where's the NBL going to get the money from RIGHT NOW in order to get serious and become healthy?

The AFL had a lot of money from the VFL days and gained a lot more from the teams coming in. The NBL wouldn't have a lot to start with, and (as BA found out) there aren't too many teams with the money to join in.
They're not going to get any hand-outs from the government either.

Hoopie, the only sport that has ever received cash from the government to directly fund league and club operations is football. It is truly bizarre that it happened, and the rumour at the time was that even the ASC was furious about it.

Apart or together, the league is unlikely to get government funds.

But otherwise your premise is largely correct I think. Being apart or together makes little difference to the leagues fundamental commercial proposition. It has a weak following, is disconnected from its grassroots (tribally, not organisationally) and despite spruiking audience growth, cannot declare that across the board.

The new entity will need significant capital, and having between 2-4 teams set up on a capital weak community model will not help.

There is a naive view of this board that "business people" running "entertainment" will make a difference. Well, the league has had hundreds of "business" people involved as owners or CEO's over the last three decades and fundamentally has always struggled financially at club level.

What we all need to find out is how structurally this will make a difference. So far, no one has pointed that out. Even if all the crap above is true about BA taking the NBL's money and spending it on other purposes, the amounts are insignificant in comparison to what is needed to make the league work.

One of the first points of action must be the 'richer' clubs putting in money to employ both a quantity and quality of people to run the league as a very professional organisation.

The NBL has not had that before and that is one of the main reasons it has not reached its potential.

You mean when Mcpeake ran the league he wasn't do it for the betterment of everyone involved???

Another immediate point of action for consideration, IMO, is to change the NBL season back to a winter season...

I dispute that Paul, when the league had Bill Palmer, Brendan McClements etc working the front office it had a very professional staffing structure, and as well resourced.

It may have had the quality, but it had nothing like the quantity other leagues in Australia have now, it was still a small operation. If it were better resourced it may not have squandered the position of advantage it had from the boom.

But Paul, there is no suggestion of "squandering advantage". My view is that during the boom the league office was extremely prudent - at the time there were 15-20 staff including communications, marketing and merchandising divisions. It was the clubs who forced the league to remove its promotional cap and extensions to do that, and who force the removal of Palmer etc.

In short, owners and coaches, from clubs that were losing money, drove most of the change because the grass was greener... South East Melbourne for example, in the era when they were drawing big crowds to Rod Laver, never made money.

Guess whats happening now....? The point is that a major problem in this league is that clubs have never had the capital, with the exception of the Kings in the 90's and maybe Perth/NZ now, to genuinely build and promote their organisations in the way they needed.

This, as I highlighted above, is the risk in the new scenario. The community based clubs have limited capital and more importantly, limited capital streams.

"The boom came from the NBA being on FTA in the 90's."

Rubbish, it rode the tidal wave of interest in basketball because of the popularity of NBA trading cards which was the real stimulus. FTA simply reacted by showing a sport that they recognised was in vogue at the time.

Those same kids who traded cards in the 90s also produced a major boost in junior playing numbers around the same time (in Sydney at least but that stalled in the early 2000s). It's mostly that same cohort of kids who make up the most active fans of basketball today.