WNBL back to winter?

[Dunkin' Dan]

DEBATE is raging whether the Women's NBL should divorce itself from the men's competition and switch to a more compact winter season format.

The obvious benefit of a June-September season would be the return of Australia's elite players competing professionally in Europe, even if a season shift would run the WNBL in opposition to America's top quality WNBA.
...

Women warming to winter switch (http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24863567-5006371,00.html)

Given that just about the whole Opals team now plays in Europe rather than down here, the benefits to the standard of the WNBL are obvious.
The potential clash with the WNBA season? Well, atm there are approximately zero WNBA players that play WNBL in the summer, so no loss there.

Thoughts?

[WilloWildWaves]

So no Lynx then :( as all the current roster play SBL during winter. Or will the WSBL be saying goodbye to thier best players :?

[Dunkin' Dan]

EOTT, from the tone of the article this is just an idea being tossed around at the moment, not a certainty.
But yes, the WA WSBL would obviously be affected by such a move, as would all of the other 2nd-tier leagues around the country.

[dirtydigits]

surely if they change the wnbl season they would also change the next level comps. why run all the comps at the same time and lose ticketbuyers.

but lets be frank. the majority of the lynx belong in the sbl not wnbl. have the lynx ever played the winner of the sa comp or seabl? it would prob be tight.

[Skindog the Hawk]

Should go back to having teams aligned with NBL clubs in the relevant markets in my opinion. More to be gained by association rather than separation.

This would mean remaining in summer...unless the NBL is planning a change of season...

SD.

[coach_me]

Might be a little crazy linking WNBL and NBL teams together when the WNBL is not in trouble and well I think the NBL's current situation has been well documented. Why would any WNBL team (apart from maybe Perth) want to link themselves to NBL teams when most are in trouble.

[Skindog the Hawk]

Might be a little crazy linking WNBL and NBL teams together when the WNBL is not in trouble and well I think the NBL's current situation has been well documented. Why would any WNBL team (apart from maybe Perth) want to link themselves to NBL teams when most are in trouble.
Links between the two teams with Perth, Adelaide & Bulleen (with Melbourne Tigers) would all be possible - unfortunately with Sydney University owning the licence there won't be the opportunity for them to pair up with whatever Sydney team is in the NBL next season (unless they want to play out of SUSAC) - why the big opposition to it? Having been at Kings games when the Flames were the curtain-raiser, they at least attracted a fair few fans and it was another way of making the NBL fans aware that the WNBL did exist, rather than the WNBL trying to expand their own small patronage with the very little marketing $$ they have.

SD.

[Observer]

One problem with this is that the Worlds and Olympics are usually held in our winter and as a result there would be a major disruption every two years to the competition not to mention the inability of the team to have a numbe rof camps and compete overseas during our Winter.

[coach_me]

My only point remains that the WNBL while not having the $$$ of the NBL, do have games on ABC and from the games I have seen good crowd support. So with not being too greedy the WNBL seems to be improving even with many of the draw card players out of the country. The NBL seem to have more franchises in finacial trouble than stable. So what sense would it make for a women's team to join a struggling men's team. Change of smaller venues might not work for some loyal spectators, and if the women charge what the men do for door prices, then they wont get people turning up.

If you can give me a really valid reason why a WNBL team would link itself with an NBL team when the NBL is in the condition it is, then I would love to hear it. :roll:

[Skindog the Hawk]

If you can give me a really valid reason why a WNBL team would link itself with an NBL team when the NBL is in the condition it is, then I would love to hear it.

Basically the WNBL has minimal crowd/supporter numbers and recognition throughout the greater population...the NBL sides that I have noted here (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne Tigers) all have a solid membership base and draw significantly larger crowds than their partner WNBL sides currently (or possibly, would ever) do.

Logan and Bendigo have founded their franchises on the basis of being regional teams and I doubt that they would benefit (especially a Logan - Gold Coast link with the current issues of SOJ & Chocko that the Blaze are having!), whilst the current issues in Sydney (as stated before) and the Sydney Uni link probably wouldn't allow that one to work. Dandenong have a strong individual identity which I doubt would benefit from being brought into the CBD to partner with either the Dragons or the Tigers, so again, you'd leave them along. The AIS and Caps unfortunately don't have anyone to double-head with, except maybe...themselves??

That leaves Townsville, who may benefit from linking with the Crocs.

SD.

[mama k]

I'm sorry but you still haven't given any valid/good reasons why the WNBL teams would want to link with an NBL club.

One of the reasons why the Melbourne Tigers WNBL club is no longer in existence is because of the 'shared' costs of game nights. Its not surprise that Bulleen and Dandenong have relatively good patronage because of the ease to get to the venues and relatively low running costs enabling them to charge reasonable prices to spectators.
Also we've seen the Dragons come from the Titans/Magic/Giants and whoever else have merged from there - so its just passes the confusion onto another league that doesn't have as many financial concerns as what the NBL does. This proposal is a quick fix situation that will cause more harm than good.
I also think you would find that while there are some spectators that enjoy watching both and a significantly high number prefer watching the WNBL therefore wouldn't go to a double header with the NBL. While a high number of the NBL spectators wouldn't be interested in watching the WNBL so wouldn't arrive earlier to watch their game anyway.

So basically only catering for a number of 'dual' watchers, operating costs go up, door prices go up - who wins here??? No one me thinks

[misty hyman]

DEBATE is raging whether the Women's NBL should divorce itself from the men's competition and switch to a more compact winter season format.

The obvious benefit of a June-September season would be the return of Australia's elite players competing professionally in Europe, even if a season shift would run the WNBL in opposition to America's top quality WNBA.
...

Women warming to winter switch (http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24863567-5006371,00.html)

Given that just about the whole Opals team now plays in Europe rather than down here, the benefits to the standard of the WNBL are obvious.
The potential clash with the WNBA season? Well, atm there are approximately zero WNBA players that play WNBL in the summer, so no loss there.

Thoughts?

This proposal is one I have thought necessary for years. The loss of Australian players is overwhelmingly to Europe. The US will never be a drain; I believe the reluctance in past years was more a nod (yawn) to Jackson - (so over her shenanigans - will she stay? - they're the best supporters ever (pick a hometown) - it is/was awesome etc) and latterly the same crap management that has fucked the NBL. To preserve the strength of the league and enhance it I think the sooner they move the season the better. Not all will return, but even a handful will bolster things considerably. As for world championships/Olympics - they cope in the US.