Basketball On The Internet.

BET on the NBL staging its 2014 Preseason Blitz Tournament for the Loggins-Bruton Trophy in Brisbane in September.

As League CEO Fraser Neill already has made clear, the NBL is looking to hold its preseason carnival in a region which currently does not boast a national presence.

With Brisbane the city the NBL has identified as its first priority for the (re)establishment of a league club, it is the most obvious candidate to host the Blitz.

The other potential new NBL entities for the 2015-16 season emanate from Melbourne, Tasmania, Canberra and Wellington.

The second Melbourne license will be issued to a club to the south-east of the city.

Just two years ago the Blitz already was hosted at Dandenong Stadium so there is no burning reason to consider that again, or even the State Basketball Centre at Knox which the next Melbourne franchise most likely will call home.

The whole concept of an NBL club based in Tasmania is that it would embrace and possibly even unite the state.

Tasmania previously has had NBL clubs in Hobart, Launceston and Devonport but historically-based differences between the various regions has meant no additional support for single-city teams.

That’s why Neill – and the Tasmanian State Government - are excited by this Anthony Stewart-driven bid because it would be a team for the STATE to support, playing at venues across the Apple Isle.

The whole idea of the Blitz is to get all the teams in one place to launch the season.

That wouldn’t work in Tasmania if games were spread around in Ulverstone, Burnie, Hobart … you get my point.

Canberra’s bid is very much still a work-in-progress – in truth, they all are of course, but Canberra’s is probably currently the most ambitious.

Plus the benefits of the national capital hosting this event are debatable and most folk outside Canberra would be taking the “Con” side in that argument.

That leaves us Wellington.

At a time when the NBL is re-establishing itself and endeavouring to make responsible fiscal decisions, flying seven NBL clubs, support crews, media, sponsors etcetera across the Tasman for a preseason event?

The only way that happens is if Wellington Saints, the New Zealand Government or a local white knight billionaire covers all of those costs.

And if Wellington had that sort of money, it would have been in the NBL long ago.

Just by the process of elimination – added to by the NBL’s insistence it would have a presence back in Brisbane in 2015-16 – it is obvious the NBL is leaning to stage the Blitz in Brisbane.

Learn from history

Here’s the thing.

For it to be an unqualified success, the NBL should take note of fairly recent history and not repeat the same mistakes made by Basketball Australia when it was administering the league a few years ago.

The Blitz opened at The Southport School at Gold Coast, then shifted into Brisbane with a random game at Auchenflower Stadium, then one somewhere else across town.

Then it moved to Chandler Stadium out in the boondocks somewhere.

In every way - other than the competitive purpose of the tournament for the teams to have a run and trial new structures and players – it was an unmitigated disaster.

The NBL – for NBL, read BA – did zero pre-publicity, just working on the “Field of Dreams” philosophy. You know the one: “if you build it they will come.”

Yeah, well, you can stage it but “they” won’t come if they know SFA about it being on.

Outside the narrow focus of Brisbane’s actual basketball participants, friends and family, no-one else came along.

And this, despite the fact Melbourne Tigers were suiting Patty Mills at the time.

If anyone is media-friendly and not only recognises but embraces his position in the game, it is the savvy Patty.

But did BA get any mileage out of an NBA player competing at The Blitz?

Nup.

Zero.

Nada.

Zip.

Readers of the state’s daily newspaper The Courier Mail would have been clueless this event was even happening.

So how it did anything to “help” grow the prospect of returning a Brisbane entity to the NBL is beyond my simple capability.

Fans indifferent

Basketball fans and Bullets fans sick of being led up the garden path, voted with their feet and went elsewhere.

They were right, as it turned out.

(The solitary positive out of the Blitz that year was that free agent Jacob Holmes won a late contract with Townsville Crocodiles after Russell Hinder broke his leg. Holmes has been a Crocs fixture ever since, unlike the coach who signed him Paul Woolpert, the man currently filling in as Perth’s interim while Trevor Gleeson is on Boomers assisting duties.)

NOW I am not saying for a millisecond that staging the 2014 Blitz in Brisbane is a bad idea.

Staging it in multiple venues requiring transportation, splitting resources, (I could go on with more reasons it makes no sense but why bore you?) is the recipe for disaster.

Everyone under one roof is a tournament drawcard.

Again, recent history shows that to be true.

Previously having the event in Cairns, Coffs Harbour or Darwin and even Sydney last year – at one venue – made it perfect.

It means the teams are in one place, you don’t have to cross town to see someone play, the referees can be observed as the game continues its evolution. (Just imagine last year as the NBL sought to introduce its tighter officiating how difficult it would have been knowing what was happening at some other stadium at a time when they were trying to forge a consistent “new” philosophy. It was tough enough achieving that with everyone in one venue!)

So that’s the first point the NBL should take on board.

If it is going to be Brisbane, stage it in one place, not splintered around.

That serves no purpose.

And do plenty of ADVANCE publicity.

Joe is smokin'

THE second point I’d like to make to the NBL is it needs someone local, with experience and nous, to coordinate the event in Brisbane.

Joe Tertzakian come on down!

Big Joe – though decidedly less big these days - is a master of staging basketball events as anyone following the QBL’s Brisbane Capitals over the past two years would know.

He previously staged game nights for Gold Coast Blaze and Brisbane Bullets and has 14 years experience at it.

He has the contacts, is a thorough professional, loves the game and the league, and probably should be the first person the new NBL franchise in Brisbane hires when that time comes.

Most importantly, Big Joe immediately would appreciate the significance of this event and go the extra mile to ensure its absolute success.

Having a local “on the ground” in Brisbane, who also knows Brisbane, would be invaluable for the NBL after its failed previous Blitz foray into the Queensland capital.

Joe and his team would make this a Blitz we would be talking about for years.

And frankly, there really is only one place where it should be held.

Auchenflower Stadium is the home of basketball in Brisbane.

Yes, it’s an old venue but it has recently had a sponsorship and naming rights boost and is identified across south Queensland for basketball.

One venue.

One coordinator.

Relentless publicity campaign.

When the NBL eventually settles on Brisbane for the Loggins-Bruton Trophy - Leroy and Cal key players for the Bullets in their 1985 Championship – it must use history to its advantage.

BA graciously already has shown them how not to do it.