Oracle of DelphiDeath of a Sport?
March 26th 2008 03:23
Category: No Category
There has been little mainstream media coverage of what could be a monumental time in the sporting landscape of Australia. One of the major sports in Australia, and one of the two great global sports, is facing a crisis that sees its National League on the edge of oblivion.
Flying under the radar, as usual, has been the massive news that Fox Sports is considering pulling its television coverage of the National Basketball League. What would this mean for basketball in Australia?
Without television coverage the sponsors would go away, fans wouldn't be able to follow the league in the same way anymore, the quality players would head overseas and the NBL would surely be on its death bed, such is the power that television holds now.
Fox Sports want to prioritise the new kid on the block, the A-League, with soccer surging in popularity, in a similar way that basketball did in the 90's in the Jordan & the Gaze era.
Basketball is at a different point now though. A great finals series involving the big market rivalry Sydney v. Melbourne with plenty of intrigue and star quality certainly saw interest peak but couldn't disguise the sport's dwindling fortunes.
The sobering fact is that Sydney and Brisbane, two of the biggest markets and most successful on-court teams, are in crises off the court and their futures hang in the balance. Only Melbourne, Townsville and possibly Perth are turning profits in the league.
Soccer has gone through similar problems in the past and one can't help but wonder if merely their fortunes have been reversed. It seems impossible for these great global games to dethrone the major sports of AFL, Rugby League & Cricket, which continue to dominate the media landscape, public consciousness and therefore financial revenues for sport in Australia and they are therefore left to fight it out for the remaining dollars.
Soccer when its National League died had the international phenomenon of the World Cup and strong financial backing, which helped change its fortunes and usher in the A-League. However, the basketball world championships have yet to garner the same level of enthusiasm with the American NBA being the competition creating global interest in the sport.
I overheard someone saying at a cafe just the other day "What ever happened to the NBA? Remember when it was big. I quite enjoy the sport but you just never see it anymore."Is it going to take something like Lebron James becoming the next Michael Jordan superstar or Australian Andrew Bogut competing for a championship to galvanise interest in the sport amongst the Australian public.
But hopefully it won't come down to waiting for international events like this to drag the league off its deathbed. The league continues to put quality product on the court and unlike soccer, it doesn't lose so many of its great players overseas, with world-class players like MVP Chris Anstey and potential NBA draft picks like Nathan Jawai.
Its going to take a lot of work to turn the league around but it all begins with keeping it on TV. I'm sure the league will do everything it can to make this happen and let's hope for the sake of the sport in Australia they're successful.
Flying under the radar, as usual, has been the massive news that Fox Sports is considering pulling its television coverage of the National Basketball League. What would this mean for basketball in Australia?
Without television coverage the sponsors would go away, fans wouldn't be able to follow the league in the same way anymore, the quality players would head overseas and the NBL would surely be on its death bed, such is the power that television holds now.
Fox Sports want to prioritise the new kid on the block, the A-League, with soccer surging in popularity, in a similar way that basketball did in the 90's in the Jordan & the Gaze era.
Basketball is at a different point now though. A great finals series involving the big market rivalry Sydney v. Melbourne with plenty of intrigue and star quality certainly saw interest peak but couldn't disguise the sport's dwindling fortunes.
The sobering fact is that Sydney and Brisbane, two of the biggest markets and most successful on-court teams, are in crises off the court and their futures hang in the balance. Only Melbourne, Townsville and possibly Perth are turning profits in the league.
Soccer has gone through similar problems in the past and one can't help but wonder if merely their fortunes have been reversed. It seems impossible for these great global games to dethrone the major sports of AFL, Rugby League & Cricket, which continue to dominate the media landscape, public consciousness and therefore financial revenues for sport in Australia and they are therefore left to fight it out for the remaining dollars.
Soccer when its National League died had the international phenomenon of the World Cup and strong financial backing, which helped change its fortunes and usher in the A-League. However, the basketball world championships have yet to garner the same level of enthusiasm with the American NBA being the competition creating global interest in the sport.
I overheard someone saying at a cafe just the other day "What ever happened to the NBA? Remember when it was big. I quite enjoy the sport but you just never see it anymore."Is it going to take something like Lebron James becoming the next Michael Jordan superstar or Australian Andrew Bogut competing for a championship to galvanise interest in the sport amongst the Australian public.
But hopefully it won't come down to waiting for international events like this to drag the league off its deathbed. The league continues to put quality product on the court and unlike soccer, it doesn't lose so many of its great players overseas, with world-class players like MVP Chris Anstey and potential NBA draft picks like Nathan Jawai.
Its going to take a lot of work to turn the league around but it all begins with keeping it on TV. I'm sure the league will do everything it can to make this happen and let's hope for the sake of the sport in Australia they're successful.
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