Future of the blaze

[Haydenob]

Do you think that the Gold Coast Blaze have a future in the NBL going forward?
They only got just over 1,800?
The writing has to be on the wall, especially when this game they handed out tons of free tickets, and they still cant get above 2,000?
For them to have any chance of being able to survive, imo, there needs to be a large restructure, and some new marketing techniques (if there is already any in place), because from reports the family are not sure whether they can continue to afford cover the losses.

I have been a supporter of the Blaze, but clearly they have failed to capture the imagination of the GC public, and in the future the sporting market up there is going to be even more competitve, so I am doubtful, but what is your opinion?

[DDFan]

Well it was a Wednesday night game.

[Robert]

Correct in our busy lifestyles the NBL needs to go to back to Friday, Sat & early Sun arvo games.

[bogut]

No doubt about that.

Mid week games suck.

Please get rid of them Mr Sengstock.

[bogut]

According to the NBL site the crowd was 2823

[Haydenob]

[QUOTE=bogut;188389]According to the NBL site the crowd was 2823[/QUOTE
Yeah they edited it, still pretty poor, especially with all the free tickets handed out.

[Clips]

Not that bad for a Wednesday game starting at 630 at a club that without strong history such as sixers or cats?

[curious]

According to the NBL site the crowd was 2823
Well it must be true then.

[Haydenob]

Well it must be true then.
Certainly didnt look half full. Dodge Taylor described the crowd as a gathering, so dont know whether that is accurate. This first crowd sounded right.

Not that bad for a Wednesday game starting at 630 at a club that without strong history such as sixers or cats?

Yeah, I undertand that, but there crowds have dropped dramatically each season, the owners are struggling under the large losses, and with heaps of free tickets handed out, the crowd was quite dissapointing.

I am just worry about, two sub 2,000 crowds, and a clear lack of interest from the basketball public, and wider public in GC.

I would think that at the very least there are some large problems that need to be fixed going forward?

[Blazefan]

As a hard core Gold Coast Bball fan for all 10 of our NBL seasons, the points raised do concern me. But unless I start showing up to the Blaze office, offering my opinions and assistance directly, there's not much else I can do except renew my season tickets, buy some merchandise and tell my friends to come out.

For older fans such as me, having already lost a team once, the thought of losing the Blaze is actually not as scary, now I think of it. But I certainly would feel for those who never knew the Rollers and would suffer a huge kick in the guts like we did back in 1996.

The bottom line is that many GC sporting fans do like a winner. You only have to compare the Blaze home crowd averages between the first season and last year to realise this. Even the most popular GC sporting team the Titans, struggled with home crowds for the last third of 2008 when they stopped winning. This season when they finished in third place, they lost only one of their 12 regular season home games and averaged just under 20K (which would have gone over 20K if the ticket prices weren't so high).

If the Blaze continue to perform like they did tonight and keep winning, the home crowds will return. Whether this is enough to keep the owners in the game next year and beyond, only time will tell.

I'll finish with an observation I made during tonight's game. As the first GC NBL Captain and high profile player here for 5-6 years, Larry Sengstock would have looked around the stadium at some stage tonight (maybe during the half time presentations perhaps). I have no doubt he would have been very proud of how far the sport here on the Coast has come, compared with his time in the early 90s.

Yes there is always room for improvement in many off court areas. But by geez we've come a long way.

[PyroCross]

Its interesting, because its definitely clear the weekend games suit teams like the Blaze. At the same time, the Breakers have been midweek for the last 3 years and attendance is pretty high on a Thursday night.

[photodude]

Its interesting, because its definitely clear the weekend games suit teams like the Blaze. At the same time, the Breakers have been midweek for the last 3 years and attendance is pretty high on a Thursday night.

but isnt that like the only night they pretty much play there home games?
And being also a lack of different national teams of course they would get great numbers

Though i may be wrong. it wont be the first time (like also alot of people )

[GC Baller]

A couple of points:

1. Breakers- their stadium holds less than 3,000. They are packed house because they are the only game in town (no A League) and have generally been winning a lot lately. Notice that they are the only club in the league that doesn't publish their attendance.

2. As I mentioned in the game thread, the ticket sales numbers had the same problem- the later number is correct because it includes season members and corporates, ie 2800 for this game

3. Having said that- what the hell is wrong with 2800 for a wednesday night game? The Tigers had less than 3,000 people to their home game last week and they are the most storied franchise in the largest basketball market in the country.

4. The Blaze are in their second year and are coming off a Wooden spoon season. They proved in their first season that they can draw big crowds when winning. I also saw in their corporate brochure that in the 2007/08 season they had the highest TV ratings of any NBL team, on average (according to Repucom). Things could be better but they are going reasomnably well, in my opinion.

5. GC United soccer team, even with their massive marketing budget and general publicity, have failed to garner any sort of crowds or support whatsoever with the worst attendance in the A League and running at about 20% capacity at Skilled Park. Compared to them, the Blaze are arguably doing much better (off the field).

6. The GC has no tradition of basketball and the Blaze have to actively try and build this. I think they are doing plenty of good things and are engaging the community- but it takes time. You can't possibly compare the Blaze to storied franchises such as Adelaide, Perth etc with 25+ years of tradition(although, as said above, we are getting comparable crowds to the Tigers).

Guys, with a league that is spending absolutely zero on marketing this season, I would applaud most clubs in the league for being able to draw the crowds and exposure we have. The Blaze continue to garner excellent media coverage (back page of the Bulletin today, plenty of good stories otherwise).
I am sure that once we start to win again, the crowds will pick up.

[DDFan]

GC Baller, love yah mate, but I'm as confused as ever/always.
Are you saying that 1000 season ticketholders couldn't make it to the midweek game (1800 inflated to 2800 due to non-attending pre-sold tickets)?

BTW, I wouldn't make too much noise about the Breakers & their success for the past few years if I were you. I recently learnt that their home games are predominantly midweek, & even Hollywood don't cough uP weekend rates for their Oscars.

[paul]

GC, I love your passion and Im a pretty positive person, but that crowd last night was very disappointing, and well below 2800.

NZs stadium holds 4000. Auckland had an A-League team and it died because no one went and no one watched on TV. The Breakers are a success.

That all said, a poor start to the season crowd-wise isnt all doom and gloom for the Blaze, but their owners do need to address it. Giving away tickets is one thing, but if people dont identify with the team it is no good.

If they keep winning (and theyll need to play a lot better than last night to do that) they will generate their own publicity and the crowds will come back, just as they got on board in the first season.

After the debacle that was last season, they have to earn their stripes again. (and before anyone quotes the crowd from their last game last year, that was Heal's last pro game and drew a reasonable crowd accordingly.)

[DodgeTaylor]

Yes, I did refer to the numbers last night as a gathering rather than a crowd. Partly a joke but unfortunately much truth to it. Sure, I was down the front in a box so didn't have a great feel for the crowd, but to me it seemed less than game 1 vs the Crocs which I thought was disappointing.

Yes, its a Wednesday night and that's not good for the Blaze but as we know the league is handcuffed by Fox to playing midweek so this won't change anytime soon.

Hopefully as the team puts more wins on the board and the general public realise there is an NBL season happening this number will grow. Having talked to the Blaze owners about this (and plenty of other things) I know this is something they are really working hard on and will continue to do so throughout the season.

I'll go to a number of other games throughout the season and I really hope later in the year crowd numbers improve and maybe one day soon they can fill it.

[GC Baller]

GC Baller, love yah mate, but I'm as confused as ever/always.
Are you saying that 1000 season ticketholders couldn't make it to the midweek game (1800 inflated to 2800 due to non-attending pre-sold tickets)?


I was told that what happened was that the guy from Sportal went and asked the ticketek office what the attendance was but the person there only gave him the Game Night Sales figures, which are only those sold through ticketek for that specific game, and do not include season ticket holders and corporate sponsors.

So you add to this the 1,000 season ticket holders and corporate members and you get the total.

So there were actually 2800 people in the arena. Which is abput 55% capacity for the venue.

[paul]

GC, on TV it looked like it was about 1/3 full, which = approx 1800. I will not accept that there was more than 2800 and am disappointed the club would try and fudge the figures (not that theure the first team in pro sports to do it!).

[alleyoop]

The part about the crowds coming if the team is winning is applicable for nearly any city; if the Blaze are relying on this solely to stay afloat, I don't see a long term future. Being a winning team is very difficult, and being a consistently winning team is even harder.

I wonder if anyone can tell me a bit more about Gold Coast as a market for a sporting franchise. A few of the examples thrown around this thread suggest that the soccer and rugby teams also struggle mightily if they aren't one of the top teams; perhaps this market isn't one that can sustain a sporting franchise (like Canberra)?

Research says otherwise, with the AFL also chucking a team in there, but for some cities, it just doesn't work.

[Voice(s)]

I think the Rollers struggled for crowds but they didn't exactly have a lot of on-court success either.

[photodude]

Well if it helps anyone, i know a heap of people who dont follow basketball who have went along to the game and seats vary from nose bleeds (which are pretty decent) to corporates and each one and im guessing least over 20 people this season all have had a positive reply on the atmosphere and the actual vibe around the place.
they werent sure on the b ball rules but they all had a great time.

Would people prefer they played at carrara and have the same numbers to make it look full in a crappy over due for a refurb venue or play in a air conditioned virtually few years old convention centre venue?

and yes the coast especially are a fickle crowd who enjoy jumping on bandwagons. so heres hoping for a string of wins.

[photodude]

I think the Rollers struggled for crowds but they didn't exactly have a lot of on-court success either.

from what i remember the Rollers struggled alot of ways especially from the cougars but they always seemed to have fairly decent numbers and i went too alot of games as a youngin.

but that was one good thing about those days at carrara. it sounded loud if there were 3000 or 500 people. which i guess no stadiums have these days unless there sheds.

[bev]

GC,
the Blaze are in their THIRD year, even tho the second one was pretty forgettable.
Organisers...IMO They still don't have enough professionalism on game night.
When you are showing off junior BBallers, it's a good idea that they are in uniform, proper shoes etc or at least some form of "uniformity". The court should have been packed with juniors, club flags etc, the works. Thought the club missed out on a lot of opportunities Wednesday night. The tickets should have gone to all juniors automatically but I think you had to apply. Is that correct? Where are the baby BBplayers at half time? Always a great attraction.

[DDFan]

I think the Rollers struggled for crowds but they didn't exactly have a lot of on-court success either.For sure, that was indeed a broken window of opportunity.