We're also trying to compete with footy finals at the start of our season/preseason and competing with footy preseason at our finals. Definitely think we have a better chance competing against regular season footy.

The competition for TV time, media coverage and sponsorship money is much greater in winter, and any players interested in making the NBA or playing international basketball would pretty much be ruled out of playing in the league.

Apart from that I think it would be a big success.

No - competing for TV, sports fans $, media all during winter AFL, Nrl etc. Summer is good only cricket and that is more irregular that Footy. Love a cold beer on a hot night. People go out more during better weather. Overseas players love our summer

#437315

With no science at all, I would suggest that the combined coverage of those summer sports does not add up to the column inches that AFL gets in winter, somedays you get entire pages of the Herald Sun devoted to fantasy AFL.

Every friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon is dominated by AFL/NRL on TV with every game live.

You simply cannot compete with that. The already shite NBL ratings would become super-shite in that environment.

At last in summer cricket's schedule is irregular, and football does not attract the ratings of AFL/NRL.

I doubt the 'golden era' of the sport was due to the season in which it was played.

So many pro-winter people on here saying the start of the summer season basketball is competing with footy finals and the end is competing with footy pre-season pretty much sums it up.
If this is an issue for you, how do you think it will be when not only their pre and post-seasons run concurrently, but their entire seasons??

[quote] Not so sure about that back in the glory days the NBL owed it's popularity to the Jordan phenomenon and once he retired (again) in the late 90's was precisely when the popularity of the NBL dropped off. [/quote]

I agree about the fad, particularity with Jordan before his first retirement in the early nineties. But NBL popularity started declining 1994-1997. Jordan retired and Channel 10 started playing NBL games at 12:00pm - 2:00am on Friday and Saturday nights. I remember people winging at the time about the decline of the NBL. It's only now that it's gone from gloomy to dire.

#437321

Dumb argument. Just because the NBL at boomtime was a winter competition does not lead to a conclusion that if you go back to winter it will boom again.

There is no foundation to the argument at all.

Everything has changed since then.

And that argument ignores the very basic facts, which are that the NBL MOVED to summer because it was DECLINING rapidly in its winter timeslot.

It could work IF the NBL could secure sponsors, media and tv time 12 months in advance. It could create a buzz if the NBL could get the media to pay attention to the change and beat it up as a Basketball vs Football storyline. Only real issue however isn't so much the major football leagues, it's the fact there are state leagues which command so much media and money also

NBL is on the rise in AUS, just give it time. Everything will work out it just takes time!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!! I just said that this thread was not about bashing Cal Bruton. As it's not relevant to the discussion. And as I pointed out, its not just Cal that has stated this preference.

Basketball could still possibly find a market in winter though. Families who don't want their kids to play rough dangerous sports. Might take there kids to the Basketball.

Also remember I have found going to a basketball game more family friendly orientated. At a Rugby League/AFL game I have come across bad language and drunken louts. This is something I have not come across at a NBL game.

And finally a move back to winter may be what the Doctor ordered. I have not seen anything that suggests the Summer experiment has worked. And it was brought in 1998. After 15 years I think it's a fair assessment that it's failed. Benno "things will work out, it just takes time" frankly rings hollow.

Winter will work if you program with common sense. No good having Adelaide fight with Crows or Power. However on the other night out of the 3, would give fans something else to attend which wont freeze you to death.

Leave xmas time for the family and one off events. Good time for NBL to run a blitz style summer series too.

NBA is only at the same time as NBL for one game a weekend on a Sunday afternoon.

I think regular season from October to early-Feb is the way to go, with playoffs finishing the first week of March. That gives relatively clear air for start and finish.

The issue with that is a number of teams will have to play across two venues to fit their home games in 18 weeks, but Melbourne and NZ have shown that can be done successfully.

Although I have been an advocate of moving the NBL season back to winter, I wonder what would be of the SEABL, BigV and others state leagues if this happened?

It is a big ask now, yes I believe it would be better in winter but we may have left it too late...

"Somany casual basketball fans I know dont want to watch NBL on tv/internet while NBA is on."

Lucky the NBL isn't planning to switch game times to 9am then!

Twitter is full of players and coaches talking very positively about the Blitz and the coming season, either because someone's got a gun to the head or because they're legitimately enthused by what they've seen and heard over the launch weekend.

And then every time, one of the past names pipes up with their two cents to a journalist, and suddenly that's a story of the weekend when it should be all about the games played and the talent and season to come. The winter argument has been talked over and over. It's obviously not going to happen for this next season so right now I think the best thing for the NBL is talking about what will happen. Leave the winter vs summer and 48 minutes and so on for the start of the off-season.

I thought the other reason for shifting to summer was so that every other season the competition was not having to be changed to allow players to go to the Olympics or World Champs? To shift back to winter then makes it difficult for teams to support Australian players in their team. Just as you may be coming to finals you could have your star player leaving for several weeks.

Winter would also keep.our wnba wnbl players away

Stay with Summer

Reality Check. There is no chance of competing against football. When 80% the midweek news bulletin sports components are devoted to the injury status on mostly low level players there is no chance of breaking in to this. Summer provides the most opportunity to get some airplay. Cricket isn't on every week. Playing Christmas day and boxing day games when TV has nothing else to offer. Friday and Saturday nights with opportunities for families to attend at a reasonable price when the football isn't on.

Go back to winter

Stay with summer.

Don't change now.

That might make some not want to go, but it might also make some want to watch more basketball. It doesnt threaten the existence of the NBL, whereas a lack of sponsors and TV does.

The popularity of the NBA certainly helped the NBL in the late 80s and early 90s, you could make the same case that the NBA not being very popular now hurts the NBL.