Money makes the world go around

We love basketball, don't we all?

All I can think of on Friday just after midday is the activities of basketball around my neighbourhood. It is great to see youngsters shooting hoops and popping those threes ahead of each other. It is more exciting to see them dunking the hell out of one another. These are the future of Premier Basketball League in South Africa, as athletes, managers or supporters.

Work in the sport should not end in developing sports stars of the future, but building a support base of the future. Sponsorship is about numbers of a crowd you can pull to your event. The potential sponsor is looking at ways to get a return of investment on an event, be it gaining more clientele or developing brand value of their product through awareness. Their sponsorship end up being a brand of choice among the supporters and people who prefer alternate products.

Some years ago the South African Broadcasting Corporation commissioned a research which pointed out that basketball has the potential to become number two sport in the country after soccer. That is a mountain to climb considering the sports trends in the country. Rugby is aligning itself with soccer. When there is a rugby test or the Currie cup, there will be a radio sports commentator at the rugby match. They will broadcast rugby concurrently with soccer. That gets the listenership of rugby on par with soccer and will contribute to the dwindling numbers of basketball. The broadcasting of matches are sponsored. In this case rugby and soccer share ABSA as sponsor who would agree to such sub-broadcasting agreement.

I have a dream of the success of basketball. One day, I want to walk in an arena full of supporters. I want to hear the sound the crowd will make in anticipation of a 360 degrees slam dunk made from a fast break. I want to see passionate people wearing their basketball merchandise. I want to see basketball being counted as the number one indoor sports in the country through sponsorship revenue and supporters. There is a long list of things I want for basketball and I know you have the same or bigger vision as well.

There are local leagues across South Africa with the hope of the return of Premier Basketball League. As we co-ordinate those leagues, let us think of ways to attract support base of the game. This will tremendously assist the business men who have invested a lot of money in acquiring the statuses of the professional basketball teams from the Premier Baketball League Trust.