There was one A-league crowd of 14k and the rest averaged 5k.

The 36ers crowd was only 4,800 I think that's the lowest crowd yet since the move to AEC.

Not aurprised. I'm a massive football fan and I have to say the A-League is complete garbage.

surprised*

Perth definitely holding up things as usual. Its a great effort regardless of the specifics and could turn some heads.

I think perth and sydney had decent crowds, the rest were underwhelming.

I think people are slowly getting used to a living with COVID world, some may be hesitant to attend or attend with a mask.

Pre COVID we were hitting attendance records (our own NBL ones), so the product itself is attractive just the circumstances are not ideal.

All clubs seems to be active on social media promoting the games / players, some to a higher degree but still actively promoted so its not due to laziness.

^me

Yes where people have been relatively unscathed by COVID the new normal can be daunting.

It would be interesting for some research company to do a popularity comparison between the major domestic sporting leagues.

Whilst AFL and NRL hold significant attention, and BBL by virtue of the sport involved sits prominently, how would A-League, NBL and Super Rugby rank by comparison?

Though the A-League relied upon former noteworthy football players for marketing/audience (eg. Del Piero in Sydney), that route has diminished as time has gone on. Compare that to the NBL's recent success (and the rabid fan turnout in Perth), and it doesn't surprise me that the NBL is attracting comparable spectators.

The question of how the A-League makes (or promotes) a profit is a good one though.

" Maybe elsewhere, but the Tassie Jack Jumpers sold out."

With such a small stadium they'd damn well better sell out

The question of how the A-League makes (or promotes) a profit is a good one though.

I'm not sure if it's realistic for NBL clubs to make a profit.

It's something us fans better hope rich guys keep doing out of love and fun.

Few of us are across all the details that become publicly available, but from looking into this in the past, as best I could ascertain there's only about 4 sporting clubs in Australia who make a sizeable profit ($1mil plus). They were West Coast, Hawthorn, Brisbane Broncos...and Collingwood maybe? I can't even recall who they were.

But I know the majority of AFL clubs make a profit (pre-covid). But it's mostly tiny profits, except the 2 or 3 powerhouses.

Maybe half of NRL clubs make profit?

But NBL, A League etc, I doubt there would've been any time in their entire histories where the majority of clubs were making money.

I'm not sure that's a statement which could be definitively proven either way, but I'd be confident it's true.

I'd love to see information on this too, if anyone has time to dig properly.

Yeah I think we will revisit why $70m was spent to upgrade the DEC and yet when they sell out and break a Tasmanian record for a basketball game, it's looked upon in contempt... they should have made a 10k seat venue to encourage those from the north to be able to feel like they can get a seat or two at all games.... and if they couldn't then that would be all the more impressive

Profits, losses, it actually doesn't directly matter. Owners are using these clubs as a tax offset for their other assets and when everything is all weighed up between their other interests, they lose less in tax by owning a club than if they didn't. If the owners were legitimately losing money for owning NBL clubs the NBL simply would not exist. Simple as that

I'm not sure whether that's the case.

But even so, losing money but getting some tax benefit is still losing money.

Those types of arrangements are used to export Aussie profits to lower taxing overseas jurisdictions.

If you're not making Aussie profits because your club's losing money, what's the point? You're still losing money.

I am/was a big A-League fan and I think the quality is high unlike one poster above. However A-league lost me when they moved away from Kayo, I am not paying for another service just to watch A-League.

Clubs still have to spend a dollar for their parent group to claim back 30c.

Yes it IS a tax offset, but a very expensive one.

I think primarily you would do it because you love the sport (Walsh) / the vision / satisfaction of building something (Bendat), to look important (Smith).

There is also the opportunity the club creates to network and create other opportunities with your other businesses. Let's be completely frank here, if all anyone got from an NBL club was losing money, they'd not exist. There is a clear upside to having these clubs. Yes, tax offset. And yes, also networking and the ability to connect with other businesses that comes from having that type of asset.

And yes, also networking and the ability to connect with other businesses that comes from having that type of asset.