David Stern announced a week or so ago that the NBA was opening an office in London and moving some staff from its Paris European HQ to London. I sort of thought it was even hinted at the London office becoming the European HQ.
What is the motive here?
Is this good news for British basketball or is it more good news for British basketball that British basketball just fritters away as usual?
Or, getting into the spirit of the totally conspiritorially obsessed die-hard British basketball following, is this bad news for the Euroleague?
I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about this, but I have spent a bit and maybe a little bit every few days. Part of me really thinks this is a power play by the NBA to get a foothold in Europe, something it has been desperate to do for so long, yet never knows how to do it.
The television interview when he announced this was broadcast by Channel 5, albeit at something like 0300 in the morning, during playoff coverage. It was the only place I had seen so much of what Stern was thinking. He even mentioned "the domestic league". I'm not particularly sure he knew it was called the BBL, but at least he knew there was one.
Of course, it was all couched in helping the Olympic Games here in London and helping growing grassroots level support; but I was left with his comments regarding Great Britain being the last, only, industrialised unexploited market left for basketball.
A very bright man who has led the NBA for what they call 'donkey's years', Stern has to be aware, if not concerned with the explosive growth of the Euroleague and that means if kids are starting to buy CSKA Moscow jerseys, that means they are buying less Chicago Bulls jerseys. And if they grow up supporting Real Madrid or Valencia or Treviso, they are less likely to spend money on the NBA products.
Make no mistakes about it, the growth in merchandise sales is what fuels ALL sports. Not everyone can ever go see a game, even if they live locally. But they can buy merch. The value of this merch is immense and is growing exponentially. The badge of your team is the symbol of the new religion and people do not often change religions. It's for life.
It funds the body and as player wages go up and as the brand seeks new revenue it has to look overseas. NBA Europe Live is a sort of Faustian bargain that both the NBA and Euroleague play these days. The NBA sends over a few terrible teams (this year the Celtics, T-Wolves, Grizzlies and I forget if there's another) and plays some Euroleague teams. These games are of immense importance to the European teams that get to play them. It lends credibility to the Euroleague teams and it gives the NBA a chance to build its brand and sell more merch to what it hopes is a growing legion of new fans.
But not in London.
In London, the NBA is putting on an exhibition match between the T-Wolves (less maybe KG by that time?) and the Celtics. No Euroleague team invited or necessary, thank you.
For a great deal of GB hoops fan, this will be our first taste of NBA ball in years and for a first look at the O2 Arena; reputed to be the first NBA standard venue in Europe--the greatest indoor arena in Europe.
If you look at the Euroleague--where are the holes? Where is the chink in the ever greater armour?
There are two massive holes: London and Paris. NBA offices? London and Paris.
There have been rumours for over a decade about the NBA wishing to expand internationally. There were rumours that the D-League would be UK based, but that came to nothing. And before that, there were the rumours that there would be actual franchises in the UK.
I read a very interesting story about the founder of the Cook Group, which purchased Manchester United's old basketball team, the Giants. Of course, this old Cook was lamenting that he was offered to buy the football team for $30m back in the early 1990's, but instead bought their basketball team instead.
Why? He was quite open about it: He and his advisors were of the belief that the NBA were going to expand into the UK and they wanted a team on the ground when the time came. It was easier to spend about $2-5m on the Giants, get a foothold in, than buy an existing NBA team for 5X that or whatever. Or worse, lose then the bidding war started.
I wonder if this is what the Wrights, the Goldsmiths, et al, were thinking back then too. If they were, it was a spectacular idea, but the NBA didn't move and they lost their money.
What is happening today? Maybe the NBA sees their only chance of starting something in the holes of the Euroleague, which are admittedly MASSIVE holes: London and Paris. It's like Monopoly. If the Euroleague buys these last few properties, they can start building hotels on them. The NBA might be priced out forever.
Maybe it also explains why the Euroleague is so determined to get something happening in one, if not both of these cities. It cannot afford to waste more time letting the NBA have access to the biggest city in Europe.
Where is the Euroleague office in London? Will there be a response?
And how does the existing structure of British basketball fit into this? FIBA is at war with our government, our government is at war with England Basketball ("not fit for purpose" is the new catch-phrase that pays), our league is, well...our league and here we all are wondering what on earth is going on.
How do we make an impact? Will anyone call us up and tell us we are involved?
If I look at this objectively, I say that something has to be going on behind the scenes. Why should I know anything about it?
But then I stop and remember: the club I work for are BBL League Champions and Cup holders.
Monday 28 May 2007
Sunday 20 May 2007
Promotion and Relegation
I've been giving some thought to the concept of promotion and relegation in European basketball. For people reading this in North America who are unfamiliar with this practise, professional team sports are created on a pyramid system that lets lower league (minor league) teams to move up to higher leagues depending on end of season standings. We are talking here about the equal of the Trenton Thunder (Eastern League AA in baseball) moving up to the International League or the Pacific Coast League (AAA) one year and even moving up to MLB the next. In order for this to be possible, it means that teams from the PCL and MLB would go DOWN levels if they finished last or next to last amongst all teams.
It is a remarkable concept and one that not many Americans are familiar with. As our games are structured now back home, this would simply entail economic meltdown in the short term and would be impossible. It would also be impossible in the NFL because there are no minor leagues of American football. The same would apply in basketball. It could only work, perhaps, in ice hockey. In baseball, on its face, it is possible, but as the MLB teams own the registration of the minor league players, it is not realistic to generally discuss it. An open baseball cup competition would be stellar though, as I've often said.
However, in Europe this is the norm and as the years have gone by, economic meltdown is now what transpires when the equal of the Chicago White Sox or the Cubs gets relegated. In the UK, Leeds United have just been relegated again to the equal of AA baseball. A team that can count on 25,000-30,000 weekly turning out will play teams that struggled to attract 5,000. It's a nightmare. And one that can go on for years and years; ask any Nottingham Forest supporter.
Of course, one could argue that teams such as the NY Yankees or Boston Red Sox would never be the ones to go down as they earn too much money; relegation would be reserved for the Milwaukee Brewers or other small market teams. And this is true. But someone has to go down each year and it's not one team, it's two or three.
Which leads me to European basketball, in which, as far as I know, all the major leagues subject themselves to relegation and promotion. The British Basketball League is not a major league but it does have the distinction of being a "closed league".
I heard the phrase "closed league" used quite a bit in Brussels, I think, as a euphemism for the NBA. Closed leagues are seriously frowned upon, again I think, by the leading minds of European basketball. And since we of the BBL operate a closed league, I have been given to thinking more and more about it.
Of all people to feel partial to a closed league, it shouldn't be me. First of all, after nearly 11 full years, I understand how important this concept is to the die-hard supporters of football. Second and most of all, as a supporter of a team that has climbed all 4 rungs of the Football League during my time in England, I have promotion and relegation to thank for supporting a Premier League club today.
But I can't seem to bring myself to liking the idea of promotion and relegation in the BBL. While I am sure, or I think I am sure, the big-wigs at the other league offices could frankly care less what the BBL does at this stage, I would hope a day will come that they WOULD care and therefore it is something that is on my mind; particularly as we are in promotion and relegation season and Fulham Football Club narrowly escaped it this year.
The BBL today is comprised of, I think, 12 clubs; having expanded in the close season with the addition of a brand new club in Birmingham and the promotion of London Capital from England Basketball League 1. They were not first, second or third as far as I know in their league, the positions from which promotion should be gained. Birmingham didn't even exist.
Worcester were promoted from 6th place last season and lost 36 of 40 games. If the league had relegation, Worcester would have come up and gone straight back down. Would this have been worth it to them?
Financially, I struggle to understand how our league could cope with clubs coming into the league, making an investment and then being relegated to a league that I have to believe suffers from less income than we do.
And to make matters worse, none of the 3 best teams in EB1 applied for promotion this year. As the marketing guy for the Guildford Heat, my personal disappointment that Reading Rockets did not apply to the BBL is easily my biggest disappointment for the season that hasn't even started yet.
Having a new local rivalry--strike that, having any local rivalry, would be such a huge boost to both clubs in every respect. I am utterly sure that BBL games between the two teams would be the highest attended for either club. Reading are only about 20 miles away.
The goal of the BBL is to apparently be a league of 16 teams. The ACB has 18. The NBA, of course, has 30.
I am personally very keen on seeing the league increase to 16 or even 18 teams; ten was just too small. We played the same teams over and over again. A league of 20 broken into two conferences would be quite astounding.
But I struggle with how this can happen. The league needs stability. It cannot have a situation where teams come and go (disappear) so frequently, as has been happening the last few years. Or worse, nearly disappearing during the season. But I do not understand why Reading Rockets would choose not to go into the BBL. They seem well-funded and well-organised. We need them, or I should say teams like them, in the league in order for the league to improve.
I am now wondering if our 'closed league' system is part of why they didn't apply. To join the BBL, you leave the lower league system of England or Scotland that DOES have promotion and relegation. And to join the BBL, you have to pay a franchise fee. The fee and the manner it is paid in can be defered and apparently not even paid for a few seasons, but at the end of the day, the fee is apparently £90,000 spread over nearly a decade.
When the BBL was on Sky Sports, every team in the league got distribution income from the league. Sponsorship and TV revenue was paid OUT by the league TO the clubs. But now there is no distribution. The payment is one-way, from the clubs to the league. I wonder if this is the essence of the problem for clubs like Reading.
I wonder what it cost to join the BBL in 1996; back in the 'glory years'? What would anyone who was interested in UK basketball purely as an investment view as the value of a BBL franchise today?
How do we get there from here?
And when you look at nearly half the teams in the Spanish ACB; when you look at the year they were founded, you see something more remarkable than you could ever imagine:
Nearly half of them were founded less than 25 years ago; some less than even 15. One, Bruesa GBC of San Sebastian incredibly (unbelievably), was founded in 2001. Now they play to tens of thousands on national and international TV.
And this is WITH promotion and relegation.
Knowing this makes me even more intrigued to learn the history of the ACB. Knowing how a league has grown itself in the same time period as British basketball, in a country where football is the national sport just as it is in Britain, surely must have some things to teach us here.
At the end of the day, learning is probably what interests and concerns me most: How do we of the BBL learn what we do not know, how do we learn what mistakes were made in the past and how do we use all of this knowledge to move away from the culture of defeat while embracing the risks of trying to succeed?
It is a remarkable concept and one that not many Americans are familiar with. As our games are structured now back home, this would simply entail economic meltdown in the short term and would be impossible. It would also be impossible in the NFL because there are no minor leagues of American football. The same would apply in basketball. It could only work, perhaps, in ice hockey. In baseball, on its face, it is possible, but as the MLB teams own the registration of the minor league players, it is not realistic to generally discuss it. An open baseball cup competition would be stellar though, as I've often said.
However, in Europe this is the norm and as the years have gone by, economic meltdown is now what transpires when the equal of the Chicago White Sox or the Cubs gets relegated. In the UK, Leeds United have just been relegated again to the equal of AA baseball. A team that can count on 25,000-30,000 weekly turning out will play teams that struggled to attract 5,000. It's a nightmare. And one that can go on for years and years; ask any Nottingham Forest supporter.
Of course, one could argue that teams such as the NY Yankees or Boston Red Sox would never be the ones to go down as they earn too much money; relegation would be reserved for the Milwaukee Brewers or other small market teams. And this is true. But someone has to go down each year and it's not one team, it's two or three.
Which leads me to European basketball, in which, as far as I know, all the major leagues subject themselves to relegation and promotion. The British Basketball League is not a major league but it does have the distinction of being a "closed league".
I heard the phrase "closed league" used quite a bit in Brussels, I think, as a euphemism for the NBA. Closed leagues are seriously frowned upon, again I think, by the leading minds of European basketball. And since we of the BBL operate a closed league, I have been given to thinking more and more about it.
Of all people to feel partial to a closed league, it shouldn't be me. First of all, after nearly 11 full years, I understand how important this concept is to the die-hard supporters of football. Second and most of all, as a supporter of a team that has climbed all 4 rungs of the Football League during my time in England, I have promotion and relegation to thank for supporting a Premier League club today.
But I can't seem to bring myself to liking the idea of promotion and relegation in the BBL. While I am sure, or I think I am sure, the big-wigs at the other league offices could frankly care less what the BBL does at this stage, I would hope a day will come that they WOULD care and therefore it is something that is on my mind; particularly as we are in promotion and relegation season and Fulham Football Club narrowly escaped it this year.
The BBL today is comprised of, I think, 12 clubs; having expanded in the close season with the addition of a brand new club in Birmingham and the promotion of London Capital from England Basketball League 1. They were not first, second or third as far as I know in their league, the positions from which promotion should be gained. Birmingham didn't even exist.
Worcester were promoted from 6th place last season and lost 36 of 40 games. If the league had relegation, Worcester would have come up and gone straight back down. Would this have been worth it to them?
Financially, I struggle to understand how our league could cope with clubs coming into the league, making an investment and then being relegated to a league that I have to believe suffers from less income than we do.
And to make matters worse, none of the 3 best teams in EB1 applied for promotion this year. As the marketing guy for the Guildford Heat, my personal disappointment that Reading Rockets did not apply to the BBL is easily my biggest disappointment for the season that hasn't even started yet.
Having a new local rivalry--strike that, having any local rivalry, would be such a huge boost to both clubs in every respect. I am utterly sure that BBL games between the two teams would be the highest attended for either club. Reading are only about 20 miles away.
The goal of the BBL is to apparently be a league of 16 teams. The ACB has 18. The NBA, of course, has 30.
I am personally very keen on seeing the league increase to 16 or even 18 teams; ten was just too small. We played the same teams over and over again. A league of 20 broken into two conferences would be quite astounding.
But I struggle with how this can happen. The league needs stability. It cannot have a situation where teams come and go (disappear) so frequently, as has been happening the last few years. Or worse, nearly disappearing during the season. But I do not understand why Reading Rockets would choose not to go into the BBL. They seem well-funded and well-organised. We need them, or I should say teams like them, in the league in order for the league to improve.
I am now wondering if our 'closed league' system is part of why they didn't apply. To join the BBL, you leave the lower league system of England or Scotland that DOES have promotion and relegation. And to join the BBL, you have to pay a franchise fee. The fee and the manner it is paid in can be defered and apparently not even paid for a few seasons, but at the end of the day, the fee is apparently £90,000 spread over nearly a decade.
When the BBL was on Sky Sports, every team in the league got distribution income from the league. Sponsorship and TV revenue was paid OUT by the league TO the clubs. But now there is no distribution. The payment is one-way, from the clubs to the league. I wonder if this is the essence of the problem for clubs like Reading.
I wonder what it cost to join the BBL in 1996; back in the 'glory years'? What would anyone who was interested in UK basketball purely as an investment view as the value of a BBL franchise today?
How do we get there from here?
And when you look at nearly half the teams in the Spanish ACB; when you look at the year they were founded, you see something more remarkable than you could ever imagine:
Nearly half of them were founded less than 25 years ago; some less than even 15. One, Bruesa GBC of San Sebastian incredibly (unbelievably), was founded in 2001. Now they play to tens of thousands on national and international TV.
And this is WITH promotion and relegation.
Knowing this makes me even more intrigued to learn the history of the ACB. Knowing how a league has grown itself in the same time period as British basketball, in a country where football is the national sport just as it is in Britain, surely must have some things to teach us here.
At the end of the day, learning is probably what interests and concerns me most: How do we of the BBL learn what we do not know, how do we learn what mistakes were made in the past and how do we use all of this knowledge to move away from the culture of defeat while embracing the risks of trying to succeed?
Friday 11 May 2007
Cure for Hoop Withdrawal, ACB or Bundesliga?
It's been now two weeks since our last game of the season and today I can surely state I had my first twitch for needing a fix. I want to see a game. Not on the box, in the flesh.
I have to admit, over the past several months I've developed a bit of a taste for the Spanish top league, the ACB; reputedly the best league basketball after the NBA. Between Eurosport's coverage of the ULEB Cup showing plenty of Real Madrid as well as the weekly one hour Spanish Basketball League Review, I've seen quite a few games and liked what I've seen. Roy Birch provides quite a bit of information in his commentary for us UK based viewers and I've really enjoyed the titbits he's put into the public domain. I'm looking forward to meeting him.
Not adverse myself to noticing advertising in the papers regarding a 'price war' between Ryanair and EasyJet offering 'tons' of cheap plane tickets (carbon footprints be damned), I thought a bit of research was in order. Opportunity sniffed.
Open browser, Google ACB...after this weekend it's playoff time in the ACB. Considering the fact I'm a Madrid-junkie already, I think the time has come to see Real in their Vistalegra Arena. 15,000 seater. The Full Monty. But what of Barcelona? Or Valencia? Click click.
Great site...but...
Where can I find the schedule, in English?
Nothing here. How dare they print their entire website in Spanish without an English button. Oh stop; just joking. I did actually look for the English language button though. Must ask for some insights from people in Spain about the scheduling.
Tickets, I don't worry about. It's not that I have friends in high places, but the last time I scalped tickets to see Real Madrid FC in Madrid, I only spent £40 for €20 tickets, so how bad can I get done for basketball tickets?
Let's have a look at Ryanair out of Gatwick...
Ireland only.
I am not going to Stansted. That would take as long as the flight to Spain.
EasyJet.
WTF?
Minimum £100 with two weeks advance notice? What happened to the £1 tickets?
Some of these are £200+...even to places I have no idea where they are or if they have basketball.
Hey look at this, Girona is listed as Barcelona. There's an ACB team in Girona. Just learned something there.
Must be the time of year and the warm weather, but Spain does not look like it's cheap to get to.
Blatant false advertising!
But I need a fix.
Where can I go to see top quality basketball on short notice on short haul flight. I don't care if the weather and food are as miserable as England--where can I go?
Germany...
I have to admit, over the past several months I've developed a bit of a taste for the Spanish top league, the ACB; reputedly the best league basketball after the NBA. Between Eurosport's coverage of the ULEB Cup showing plenty of Real Madrid as well as the weekly one hour Spanish Basketball League Review, I've seen quite a few games and liked what I've seen. Roy Birch provides quite a bit of information in his commentary for us UK based viewers and I've really enjoyed the titbits he's put into the public domain. I'm looking forward to meeting him.
Not adverse myself to noticing advertising in the papers regarding a 'price war' between Ryanair and EasyJet offering 'tons' of cheap plane tickets (carbon footprints be damned), I thought a bit of research was in order. Opportunity sniffed.
Open browser, Google ACB...after this weekend it's playoff time in the ACB. Considering the fact I'm a Madrid-junkie already, I think the time has come to see Real in their Vistalegra Arena. 15,000 seater. The Full Monty. But what of Barcelona? Or Valencia? Click click.
Great site...but...
Where can I find the schedule, in English?
Nothing here. How dare they print their entire website in Spanish without an English button. Oh stop; just joking. I did actually look for the English language button though. Must ask for some insights from people in Spain about the scheduling.
Tickets, I don't worry about. It's not that I have friends in high places, but the last time I scalped tickets to see Real Madrid FC in Madrid, I only spent £40 for €20 tickets, so how bad can I get done for basketball tickets?
Let's have a look at Ryanair out of Gatwick...
Ireland only.
I am not going to Stansted. That would take as long as the flight to Spain.
EasyJet.
WTF?
Minimum £100 with two weeks advance notice? What happened to the £1 tickets?
Some of these are £200+...even to places I have no idea where they are or if they have basketball.
Hey look at this, Girona is listed as Barcelona. There's an ACB team in Girona. Just learned something there.
Must be the time of year and the warm weather, but Spain does not look like it's cheap to get to.
Blatant false advertising!
But I need a fix.
Where can I go to see top quality basketball on short notice on short haul flight. I don't care if the weather and food are as miserable as England--where can I go?
Germany...
Tuesday 8 May 2007
Post Euroleague Final and Suns v Spurs, One Night of Hoop Heaven
The Euroleague final, if you didn't get a chance to watch it wherever you are, was probably the best spectacle European basketball could have hoped for. Sure, the local side did get a real boost by getting to play in their home town but as one of the announcers said, playing in front of the most die-hard, rabid Greek fans is all about pressure too.
What was perhaps most amazing was being able to turn over to Sky Sports right after the game ended and watch the first game of the Sun/Spurs series and just compare. I suppose it's not fair to compare Game 1 Conference Semi-Finals v a winner take all game, but I felt there was more spark, more D, more desire in the European game. I certainly felt the gap between these two teams and the NBA was getting smaller and not larger. The focus on team play is such a hallmark of European basketball, it does contrast greatly with the game back home. Barring Steve Nash, it so often seemed a game of individuals.
It was also the first time I had got to see a Euroleague game live, as previous to this I could only see highlights on Greg Tanner's show on UKTVSlam G2. Okay, I could have watched games on my computer screen and I know I really need to get a plasma and hook it up to my computer, but this was the first live game. Comparing it to the ULEB Cup isn't even possible.
I should really congratulate the Euroleague team for the job they did in organising this event. I am told there are usually quite a lot of NBA big-wigs, even David Stern himself, coming to this game and I can see why. I can also see why NBA club owners like Mark Cuban of the Mavs see the Euroleague not as a partner, but as a competitor. Cuban certainly has a love for self-promotion and the reality is that the NBA's resources are light years beyond everything. Europe is playing a game of catch-up it may take years to win. But it's happening.
There is much debate on the inside of the British basketball league community regarding our place, the BBL's place, in the overall set up of Europe. The truth is there isn't a place right now. I am not doing down our league or our ability or our love of the game, but I don't see how it is possible to say otherwise. Maybe this month it may change, but we've no right to a spot anymore, when we once did. We've lost a lot in the past 5-7 years.
Getting to Euroleague isn't a conversation that is easy to have for us. Getting to ULEB is easier. But it surely was something to watch the final, just as it was to watch the ULEB final. The differences between these two are vast, but you can see the map of progression--you can see how you COULD get there.
With the NBA, a closed league, all you can do is look in; as if with your face pressed up to the glass window of some exclusive shop that you know you will never, ever get into.
This is why it's great to play in the BBL, member of the Union of European Basketball Leagues (ULEB).
What was perhaps most amazing was being able to turn over to Sky Sports right after the game ended and watch the first game of the Sun/Spurs series and just compare. I suppose it's not fair to compare Game 1 Conference Semi-Finals v a winner take all game, but I felt there was more spark, more D, more desire in the European game. I certainly felt the gap between these two teams and the NBA was getting smaller and not larger. The focus on team play is such a hallmark of European basketball, it does contrast greatly with the game back home. Barring Steve Nash, it so often seemed a game of individuals.
It was also the first time I had got to see a Euroleague game live, as previous to this I could only see highlights on Greg Tanner's show on UKTVSlam G2. Okay, I could have watched games on my computer screen and I know I really need to get a plasma and hook it up to my computer, but this was the first live game. Comparing it to the ULEB Cup isn't even possible.
I should really congratulate the Euroleague team for the job they did in organising this event. I am told there are usually quite a lot of NBA big-wigs, even David Stern himself, coming to this game and I can see why. I can also see why NBA club owners like Mark Cuban of the Mavs see the Euroleague not as a partner, but as a competitor. Cuban certainly has a love for self-promotion and the reality is that the NBA's resources are light years beyond everything. Europe is playing a game of catch-up it may take years to win. But it's happening.
There is much debate on the inside of the British basketball league community regarding our place, the BBL's place, in the overall set up of Europe. The truth is there isn't a place right now. I am not doing down our league or our ability or our love of the game, but I don't see how it is possible to say otherwise. Maybe this month it may change, but we've no right to a spot anymore, when we once did. We've lost a lot in the past 5-7 years.
Getting to Euroleague isn't a conversation that is easy to have for us. Getting to ULEB is easier. But it surely was something to watch the final, just as it was to watch the ULEB final. The differences between these two are vast, but you can see the map of progression--you can see how you COULD get there.
With the NBA, a closed league, all you can do is look in; as if with your face pressed up to the glass window of some exclusive shop that you know you will never, ever get into.
This is why it's great to play in the BBL, member of the Union of European Basketball Leagues (ULEB).
Sunday 6 May 2007
Euroleague Final
This afternoon I am looking very much forward to watching UKTVSlam on UKTV G2 and their live coverage of the Euroleague Final. This will be a game between a pair of teams that would absolutely defeat somewhere between a handful and several NBA teams. CSKA Moscow have the highest payroll of any team in basketball outside North America. If I am not mistaken, it is somewhere in the region of $20-25m. They are a vastly exceptional team in this respect. Their opponents, Panathinaikos, while I am not sure, spent 2/3 to 1/2 of that. I could be wrong though. Not about CSKA though.
The Euroleague/ULEB have genuine hopes of playing the Euroleague Finals at the brandie-new O2 Arena in London before this decade is out. They would love to have a British team play in the Euroleague by then. Even my own wholly optimistic, gung ho, what the hell, all you need is love (read: money) mentality I can't even imagine such a thing.
I think the team in the Euroleague, one giant step above the ULEB Cup, with the lowest wage bill is something like $5m; sure, joke money for the NBA, but impossible to imagine in any respect for the British Basketball League.
If we gain entry to the ULEB Cup this fall, then we would be one step below this league. If we won the ULEB Cup we would be automatically in the Euroleague. Absolutely reality, but only technically. Not even in the best Cheech and Chong Kodak moment of a lifetime would we be that close except if by allowing oneself to dream a little dream.
However, I'm sure Thomas Edison had some rather peculiar dreams so it was only in this manner did he conjure up solutions to the challenges he faced in inventing things that no one could imagine.
Let me use my imagination on how it could be done. Quick! Someone call Paul Allen, the guy who spends no time working for Microsoft anymore, yet has as much money as Bill Gates. He throws money away on WAYYY more crazy ideas than this. Do I have his number?
That's it, I'm afraid.
But all of these clubs started from someplace and someplace was a dream. And in one hour, someplace is going to be in front of my neighbour's TV set as we drink a few bottles of Hogs Back T.E.A. and watch just how much better these teams are than not only the Guildford Heat and Real Madrid, but how much worse they are than the Golden State Warriors.
I wonder how many people who watch BBL basketball will be doing the same thing?
The Euroleague/ULEB have genuine hopes of playing the Euroleague Finals at the brandie-new O2 Arena in London before this decade is out. They would love to have a British team play in the Euroleague by then. Even my own wholly optimistic, gung ho, what the hell, all you need is love (read: money) mentality I can't even imagine such a thing.
I think the team in the Euroleague, one giant step above the ULEB Cup, with the lowest wage bill is something like $5m; sure, joke money for the NBA, but impossible to imagine in any respect for the British Basketball League.
If we gain entry to the ULEB Cup this fall, then we would be one step below this league. If we won the ULEB Cup we would be automatically in the Euroleague. Absolutely reality, but only technically. Not even in the best Cheech and Chong Kodak moment of a lifetime would we be that close except if by allowing oneself to dream a little dream.
However, I'm sure Thomas Edison had some rather peculiar dreams so it was only in this manner did he conjure up solutions to the challenges he faced in inventing things that no one could imagine.
Let me use my imagination on how it could be done. Quick! Someone call Paul Allen, the guy who spends no time working for Microsoft anymore, yet has as much money as Bill Gates. He throws money away on WAYYY more crazy ideas than this. Do I have his number?
That's it, I'm afraid.
But all of these clubs started from someplace and someplace was a dream. And in one hour, someplace is going to be in front of my neighbour's TV set as we drink a few bottles of Hogs Back T.E.A. and watch just how much better these teams are than not only the Guildford Heat and Real Madrid, but how much worse they are than the Golden State Warriors.
I wonder how many people who watch BBL basketball will be doing the same thing?
Monday 30 April 2007
Train Wreck in Newcastle, All Change Please
I'm not quite sure who didn't read the script. Was it our players or the Scottish Rocks? And I'm not entirely sure how I neglected to do any contigency planning, but when we were down by 20 at half-time I had to give serious thoughts about not appearing in the BBL Playoff Final. Ouch!
And the weekend started off so good too...that 7 hour drive on the bus to Newcastle was wonderful. To be fair, the ride itself was only 7 hours, but since I left my house at 11.45 on Friday, the total time spent running about was about 10 hours. In precisely 0 of these 600 minutes did I consider we would lose against the Rocks. Oh and the ride home. Priceless. Thank God we didn't wait around to see the Eagles play the Rocks. That 7 hour return trip empty handed felt more like 14.
In retrospect, I can clearly see how it could happen. As I've mentioned, I think the concept of the playoff's in a 10 team league after a 38 game season that includes 2 other competitions to be entirely redundant. And as we had miraculously won the league and the cup, I guess we didn't want it as badly as the Rocks, whose coach Thorsten Leibenath, made it plain to me after the game just how "desperate" they were for a trophy this season. These guys put everything into the game, and despite having a 20 point lead at half time, they nearly choked the almighty choke as we narrowed the gap (twice) to but 3 points with a few minutes left.
The loss left me decidely empty though. The manner of the loss was bothersome. For champions to dig a pit that deep and toss themselves into it was a bit shocking. Meanwhile, to add to my woes, I was the courtside roving reporter for the BBC. Wandering around asking our assistant head coach Russell if we were going to pull it out every time out seemed a bit daft. Russell did make me laugh, really did, when he said, "during this last time-out I learned a few words I had never heard before..."
Credit where it's due, the Rocks were the better team on the day. However I don't want to add to that sentence, "...and wanted it more".
It leaves a few months in front of this team and organisation. The American players will be starting for home and the coming time off will be really welcome. Next season will be mammoth. One can never use the phrase 'make or break' in terms of a single season in the BBL. I've realised now that every season is a make or break. Every half season.
I guess it's safe to say that I would prefer not to go out and lose games like this in future; to teams that could want it more.
And the weekend started off so good too...that 7 hour drive on the bus to Newcastle was wonderful. To be fair, the ride itself was only 7 hours, but since I left my house at 11.45 on Friday, the total time spent running about was about 10 hours. In precisely 0 of these 600 minutes did I consider we would lose against the Rocks. Oh and the ride home. Priceless. Thank God we didn't wait around to see the Eagles play the Rocks. That 7 hour return trip empty handed felt more like 14.
In retrospect, I can clearly see how it could happen. As I've mentioned, I think the concept of the playoff's in a 10 team league after a 38 game season that includes 2 other competitions to be entirely redundant. And as we had miraculously won the league and the cup, I guess we didn't want it as badly as the Rocks, whose coach Thorsten Leibenath, made it plain to me after the game just how "desperate" they were for a trophy this season. These guys put everything into the game, and despite having a 20 point lead at half time, they nearly choked the almighty choke as we narrowed the gap (twice) to but 3 points with a few minutes left.
The loss left me decidely empty though. The manner of the loss was bothersome. For champions to dig a pit that deep and toss themselves into it was a bit shocking. Meanwhile, to add to my woes, I was the courtside roving reporter for the BBC. Wandering around asking our assistant head coach Russell if we were going to pull it out every time out seemed a bit daft. Russell did make me laugh, really did, when he said, "during this last time-out I learned a few words I had never heard before..."
Credit where it's due, the Rocks were the better team on the day. However I don't want to add to that sentence, "...and wanted it more".
It leaves a few months in front of this team and organisation. The American players will be starting for home and the coming time off will be really welcome. Next season will be mammoth. One can never use the phrase 'make or break' in terms of a single season in the BBL. I've realised now that every season is a make or break. Every half season.
I guess it's safe to say that I would prefer not to go out and lose games like this in future; to teams that could want it more.
Friday 27 April 2007
Last Second Prepartions for the Marketing Guy
I should be leaving now to get to the bus at the Spectrum. It's leaving in an hour. Nothing like a 10 hour drive to really set you up for the weekend, eh?
I should have flown or taken the train. But I just kept waiting for something to happen and it didn't, so I'm with the team.
I've never actually taken the team bus before. Not that I couldn't have, but I'm not the best regarding going to away games. In fact, I'm the worst. I think I went to 3 or 4 all season. I've got a wife and kids, not that the others don't, but everyone else brings their entire family. I'm not at that stage yet with the Guildford Heat. Home games, yes.
BBC are broadcasting the semi-final and if we win that, the final. The local BBC station in the south of England. A lot of people can actually hear it if they choose to, but I'm not entirely sure how many choose to. Still, for all our fans who cannot go (which there are thousands), this will be the main way of enjoying the game; save for being able to watch in on their computers on UKTVSlam.net. I think it's .net...or is it, UKTVSlam.tv? I think that might be it.
Good people there.
I'm looking forward to hooking up with the journalists that will be there. This event will get national coverage, minority sport style, but certainly there. The winner might get a full page in the Times, which would be EPIC.
Our captain, Mike Martin, has made some good press comments, such as, "We owe all of them a beating", referring to Scottish Rocks, Newcastle Eagles and Sheffield Sharks. He's not wrong, as we have lost to each of them in our last encounter. That's not good.
Winning the playoffs will be a huge feather in our caps, as a club. For the players, many of which had never won anything before in their careers, this has just been a bumper crop of riches for them. I hope they want one more and to finish the season in style.
I'm looking forward to the summer, but don't know how I will cope without the 24/7 demands!
I'm stopping off from some supermarket white rum, I think it's my new good luck charm...
I should have flown or taken the train. But I just kept waiting for something to happen and it didn't, so I'm with the team.
I've never actually taken the team bus before. Not that I couldn't have, but I'm not the best regarding going to away games. In fact, I'm the worst. I think I went to 3 or 4 all season. I've got a wife and kids, not that the others don't, but everyone else brings their entire family. I'm not at that stage yet with the Guildford Heat. Home games, yes.
BBC are broadcasting the semi-final and if we win that, the final. The local BBC station in the south of England. A lot of people can actually hear it if they choose to, but I'm not entirely sure how many choose to. Still, for all our fans who cannot go (which there are thousands), this will be the main way of enjoying the game; save for being able to watch in on their computers on UKTVSlam.net. I think it's .net...or is it, UKTVSlam.tv? I think that might be it.
Good people there.
I'm looking forward to hooking up with the journalists that will be there. This event will get national coverage, minority sport style, but certainly there. The winner might get a full page in the Times, which would be EPIC.
Our captain, Mike Martin, has made some good press comments, such as, "We owe all of them a beating", referring to Scottish Rocks, Newcastle Eagles and Sheffield Sharks. He's not wrong, as we have lost to each of them in our last encounter. That's not good.
Winning the playoffs will be a huge feather in our caps, as a club. For the players, many of which had never won anything before in their careers, this has just been a bumper crop of riches for them. I hope they want one more and to finish the season in style.
I'm looking forward to the summer, but don't know how I will cope without the 24/7 demands!
I'm stopping off from some supermarket white rum, I think it's my new good luck charm...
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