Do you think you cuold find an investor that would be willing to pay the $15M that it would take to own the Dome outright. I'm sure that anybody who is smart enough to make $15M to but an investment would be smart enough to see that they aren't going to make a significant return on their investment.

BTW. If you are suggesting that we sell the 6ers, but not the Dome we would not be any better of because it is the Dome which is crippling our sport, not the 6ers. The dome is the White Elephant and as a basketball community we need to be coming up with ways to pay it off. Domestic comps, pro/rel and other idea's which will increase the number is basketballers in the state is a good start. Obviously, making the 6ers more attractive would help, but generating more income is what is needed in the long term.

May I ask what these blatantly stupid decisions are?

The Sixers are one of the most successful basketball teams in the NBL. Someone must be doing a good job @ BASA!

Maybe the Coach?

The deal that has killed the dome is the one demanded by the government that the dome only be used for basketball related activities.

The dome recievs a payment not to hold events so the government owned entertainment centre and convention centres do not have any competition.

The dome was designed and intended use was that it could host concerts and all types of events.

If a new owner was found it would be critical for this deal to be undone.

Bands that are packing out the Thebarton Theatre could play at the dome...this would be a plus for the band and their management.

The fees from these types of gigs would help to reduce the debt immeadiatly.

BouncePass -- surely the players and coaches have something to do with that?

Isaac, Sure the coach and players are the ones who get the runs on the boar, but without the management of the club, there wouldn't be a team. The same coach and players haven't always been there, but BASA have.

Without getting personal, it was initially stated by "Rove" that:
"Sell the 36ers, let someone with 1/2 a brain run it&&.."

Would the management of the club by a private firm ensure the success of the team continues? Who knows! All I know is that history shows the Sixers (that includes everyone associated with the club, including management) have had a great deal of success since their inception into the league. You can't argue with that!

The management currently is a lot different to the management that was about during the sixers titles.

I think that the aptitude of the current flock reflects in the stands.

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The empty seats issue  What was the first thing that attracted you to a basketball game? For me it was the atmosphere, packed stadium, lots of noise which I first noticed by watching a game on television. I would get tingles down my spine most games from the atmosphere.

I have to admit it has been disappointing this year (only two home games, one being Wednesday) and especially most of last year. Could disappointing crowd numbers last year be because of the team's lack of success, which has flowed into this season? It's a possibility, but a poor effort in the sale of the game to public would have to be major contributing factor.

I think the cost of a ticket is a big issue mainly for families and if you look around in the crowd the age of season ticket holders appear to be increasing and less youth around. So judging by this you would have to say that crowd number will further decrease in years to come.

As a working single person you would have to agree it's not bad entertainment value for the cost if you are a season ticket holder. I think I worked out that you could get away with paying $19 per game for an adult ticket sitting behind the ring! Pretty damn cheep if you compare it to most forms of entertainment (and please don't compare it to the value for a Soccer game as 1) You are closer to the action 2) There is a roof on the dome 3) Basketball is more exciting). Also DJ said we shouldn't be complaining about ticket prices as he went to an interstate game that cost more for a ticket.

I do agree that more could be done in terms of selling the game. I also agree with basically what you are saying; more bums on seats = more money spent on food and merchandise = more revenue = less debt. I further acknowledge what you, Isaac, (one person who is not being paid by the club) are doing / have done to promote the game. I have no reason to stickup for management other than being a huge fan of the Sixers, but what I don't understand is what interest would the club have in not getting bums on seats? They are probably doing the best they can, with what they have got eg. Resources and money. Unfortunately I don't have any sensible suggestions to improve the situation.

They want bums on seats and obviously need it more than any of us do. They took steps in the off-season to bring in external consultants in an attempt boost sponsorship and ticket sales for 2004/05.

Ticket sales says that hasn't worked. I don't care if the same people hang around to do the job, but they need to try something different.

People on this forum (fans) talk about introducing friends and family to the game. How hard would it be for the club to put up a news article on their site encouraging fans to invite a friend to the October 30 game against the Cairns Taipans? Not hard. Maybe even offer them a free drink voucher, lanyard or hat (those things are cheap to get) for every friend they refer.

What about having a $30 ticket + food deal (tickets cost $28) -- pay $30, get a ticket to the game and a $5 voucher for food or drink.

Or how about doing a deal with a restaurant in the area (cinemas do this even though they have their own food on sale)?

Or mail-dropping the houses in the blocks around the Dome: "Ever wondered why there are so many cars in this area on a Saturday night? Come and see for yourself!"

Or getting some enthusiastic fans and a couple of players to walk through a shopping centre on Friday afternoon asking people what they're doing on Saturday night and handing out invitations to the game. (Get permission from the shopping centre if required.) Have a laptop on hand with footage/audio of the crowd going nuts and a camera panning around. Show people what it's like!

Get players to sign printed photos (the club has them from each game) in public appearances. Get them to remind every fan/newcomer when the next game is and how they can buy tickets. "It'd be great if you could come along and support Adelaide's team."

For Wednesday night games, offer corporate ticket deals -- 10 tickets for $175 to businesses around the place. Make it a social thing. It's hard to coordinate that sort of deal when you work together Monday-Friday, but want to tee something up for Saturday. Instead, get people to all head to the Dome from work in the evening. If necessary, get a bus to drive down Greenhill Road, The Parade, South Rd, and then from the city to take these groups in so they don't have to worry about car parking.

Give 10 fans disposable cameras and ask them to take photos of what a Sixers game means to them. See what happens.

Have a Newbie Pack for $49.95 that people can buy for friends. Includes two tickets, a map to the game (the best routes to take from various sides of the city), a welcoming letter, a brief run-down of the rules and things to look out for, and an introduction to the players. This might be helpful for people who want to bring friends to the game, but don't have spare seats near theirs.

Microsoft and Bungie are about to launch Halo 2 and there is a load of hype around, and tonnes of Microsoft marketing cash up for grabs. Unbeknownst to most fans, the Sixers often take an Xbox on the road and play Halo against each other in their sparetime. Rent one or two projectors for a game night and run a Halo demo.

Along the same line, hook up with EA's distributor in Australia (or Gametraders -- SA success story) and run demos of the latest basketball games.

Loads more things to try. All oriented towards getting results for minimal financial outlay.

Following up on this -- survey people after they've been to their first game to see what they thought.

Include testimonials online or in promos/advertising -- "I thought the atmosphere at the footy was good, but you won't believe the noise when the Dome is packed." Testimonials could be very effective for getting small business staff groups along to Wednesday night games.

Get some cameras at a game that is likely to sell well under the premise that a sound engineer is going to test the volume of the crowd to see if a basketball game really does have the best atmosphere in Adelaide. Get that on the news (the final quirky story that newsreaders plug before the credits) so people can see what a game is like.

Occasionally get a player to hand-deliver tickets that've been bought online or by phone (where practical) -- imagine the surprise on people's faces and the potential news story...

I've mentioned this one before: have lights installed at the front of the Dome and have them light up the sky on game nights.

Same with this one: have a red carpet leading to the entrance and get photos of people entering the games. Also/or take a photo of a few fans at the game and put them on the website -- encourages people to check the site to see if they're featured. Circle one in red -- if it's you and you contact the club, you win tickets to the next game.

When people buy tickets buy phone or at the door, offer them a deal for tickets to the next game right then and there. Make that the only place and time they can get the deal.

Even if sending out information targeted at people new to basketball, send the same information (even if by email) out to current customers too so they know that effort is being made -- it's just as important to keep current customers happy: they'll probably be doing a lot of word-of-mouth advertising.

Tony Rocca is the 36ERS strength and conditioning coach as of this season. For someone working with a basketball team, he's really very short - to the point where newspapers might run a story on it. Get him to contribute a brief column on healthy eating to the site or something that people can subscribe to and receive by email each week. Alternatively, make it a column in The Advertiser. We recently worked with James Duigan (Elle MacPherson's personal trainer) who did something similar with his "Naked Trainer" column.

Run a viral marketing campaign for a group of friends to win tickets to watch a game from one of the empty corporate boxes, with catering (don't skimp!). The more friends you refer to the competition, the more chances you have of winning. Everyone who enters agrees to have the Sixers contact them for a survey or to receive ticket offers, etc.

Produce a merchandise catalogue. Eight pages or something. Ordering information included. Send it out to ticket holders. It'll sit around on the coffee table for a while and kids will pester their parents for their favourite product. Give away a free ticket with every singlet or t-shirt sold.

Anyone else got any ideas?

Stand back, Isaac is on fire!!!!

have you done any work today???

Yes, a bit. I worked from 6am until 11pm yesterday with few breaks, so I needed a distraction. Hope some use comes of all this.

I think one of the best ways is to do a "Lakers" and get celebrities to the games (try and make it the good games, the ones where they are going to get a great game).....then promote the hell out of that on the website.

The more celebrities that get promoted, peopel are going to think it must be good, and start coming. Of course that sort of promotion would also need to be occurring on TV/Radio, something marketing $$ may bot be able to cover at this time.

I wonder how much those drive around billboards cost Adelaide United, promoting their next game. Maybe thats something else worth considering, driven around by one of those great new looking Sixers branded Mazdas!

BASA and the 6'ers should be seperate financial entities.

I don't like the idea of selling the 6'ers.

I don't know if its possible but instead of selling the sixers to reduce the debt on the powerhouse. Couldn't some of the powerhouse land be sub-divided and sold.
Obviously not as residential property but commercial.
It's not going to cancel the debt but it will reduce the ammount of money owed/ interest payments.
There is street frontage at he eastern end (near the offices) and along the northern end of the property (car park).
We may lose 50-100 car parks but so what!
The council could just squash the idea but who knows.

I just think BASA could trim the fat before they would start looking to sell the jewel in there crown.

Any thoughts.

Some of this is sensational. Isaac, you could get a job out of this. If you know how to shove someone against the wall, you're guaranteed employment at ..... oh hang on, that was unfair.

I agree with the postings about them being separate entities. Whilst closely related, they should not be supporting each other.

Something interesting to consider - the Power (AFL) get out to as many schools etc and target the next generation of kids, as they're fully aware they will never compete with the Crows in an even-playing field if they don't do something as drastic as tapping into markets such as this. I remember Craig Clatworthy (now there's a blast from the past!) coming to my primary school around 1984 and running a clinic. My mail is that this is much rarer now, with the players being more professional etc ..... but at what cost? Mmmmm.

Celebrities in Adelaide - who were you thinking of?
I hear Fabio is in town, not to mention world famous news reader Kent Brockman........

Ive mentioned this one before but not in great detail. Too late for this season but something to think about for next season. I think a good place to advertise the Basketball is at the football. The reason being is because a lot of people are in the one place and you are reaching a relevent crowd (action packed spectator sports lovers). My suggestion would be to run an ad on the big screen at AAMI stadium. This should be done on the last home game of both Port and Crows games. The last home game for 2 reasons, its closer to the start of the NBL season and fresh in people's minds and also the ending of the football season leaving people contemplating on what they are going to do for the next 6 months without the excitement of football.

The ad would go something like this -

2 mates are talking to each other and one asks the other what he is doing this afternoon. He replies, going to the foothall, what about you? Oh, I've been invited to a friend's place for a BBQ. The next scene shows the one going to the football, leaving through his front door and down the driveway to the car. He is completely fitted out in his favourite football gear, the car has his football scarf hanging out the back window and streamers attached to the antenna. Then a brief look at his mate at the BBQ with a sausage in one hand and a beer in another looking completely bored out of his brain.

The next scene would be 10 seconds or so of exciting football action, ie goal being kicked, crowds roaring with excitement and flags waving. Then everything is silent and on the screen appears the words "all this is coming to an end in a few weeks, what are you going to do for the next 6 months to replace this excitement?

The next scene will be a 10-15 second action packed scene of the basketball, ie a Farley dunk, Maher shooting a 3 from 2 suburbs away, the crowds jumping up and down cheering and roaring with excitement (really amplify the sound here). The screen goes silent again and the words appear giving details of how to obtain tickets for the basketball, ie telephone number, website address etc. Give details of a special offer for football fans, ie
the club should consider making it attractive for this particular group of people to come to a game, ie the first 5 home games at half price or 2 for 1 upon presentation of your football season ticket.

The advertising costs might be high but a deal could be struck with both the football clubs, ie free ad at each of the football games in exchange for advertising the football club throughout the season at the Dome.

With the number of people going to the football, it only takes a quarter of them to go to just one basketball game to result in a potential 1000 plus extra people at each game.

Agreed, EC. We need to face the reality of the strangehold that AFL has on the sporting market in this country .... and use it to our advantage.

Love the idea EC, but one thing you mentioned which will stop it.

Cost.

Every NBL club has the same problem. Marketing $$ just arent there at the moment. Which in turn is making it a viscious cycle, no marketing, no corwrd = no crowds, no marketing budget expansion.

As far as celebrities...I dont know....start of small....local radio / TV. Get some of the Channel 7 crew down (Jane Doyle, Graham Goodings (who used to be a huge basketball fan). McLeods Daughters is filmed in Adelaide. Get some of them down....maybe get Rachel Carpani and Chad Cornes down (I think its Chad). Get their appearence promoted in places like Adelaide Confidential and the gossip column in the Sunday Mail.

Plenty of AFL footballers around the place. Need to make sure these people though are highly visible (ie right behind the 6ers bench, ala Jack Nicholson at the Lakers). Obviously you need to ensure security is tight so these people can actually enjoy the game and dont spend 2 1/2 hours just signing autographs.

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Yogee, I did mention the cost aspect of it and suggested a deal could be struck with both the football clubs, a kind of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours".

I meant more of the making of the ad in the first place.

I am sure Isaac could give us an idea of what it costs to make a quality 30 second TV/Video commercial.

Obviously thousands if you're paying for talent, production team, audio, etc. I work with a few people who've done some hobby stuff on the side (short film entries, etc) from their paid work borrowing time from friends, and the results have been impressive. I've also done some work for a talent agency recently who have a connection to the Sixers.

That said, you could easily work within a budget by relying on home/stock audio, stills where appropriate, contra talent, etc. Doing an ad as suggested by EC wouldn't be out of the question.

Isaac Quote "the Sixers players do run school clinics. They have a certain number of appearances per month or week that they do."

Can I ask maybe a stupid question, but why don't they publicise this on their website or in the paper? It's free positive news.

I know their is some sort of divide between the club and Boti but why not invite him along to one of these school clinics, surely he would run a 'feel good' story about it.

Certainly makes better news (for the club) than staff members pushing each other around.

it costs around $2000 to run a 30sec ad during the news and a very similiar amount to run during prime time tv 8-10.30 at night

you can get ads on tv for around 200-300 a pop if you run at 2 or 3 in the morning or during very slow times.

things don't happen for nothing

hopeless, we're talking about an ad on the bigscreen at an AFL game, arranged as full or part trade in this case. There's actually a general hierarchy of marketing, from least effective to most effective, and TV ads aren't necessarily at the far end of the most effective scale.

I would be interested to know if season ticket mail-outs were followed up to find out if people weren't buying them, why not -- not interested anymore, can't afford it, think it's too expensive, think the team is boring, whatever.

DJ -- I agree completely. It's already in electronic format as far as I know, because the players get printed sheets detailing their commitments for each upcoming period. It would be absolutely trivial to get those online.

The Perth Wildcats do it on their web site.

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Not really. He asked that I arrange an urgent meeting with one of their marketing team.