PBL Team Is This Much

The teams with the Premier Basketball League status are Cape Town Eagles, Cape Town Kings, Egoli Magic, Johannesburg Olympians, Kwazulu Marlins, Maritzburg Tuskers, Soweto Panthers and Tshwane Suns. There will be a few statuses added when the new league starts in the future. I know Free State has a status of the PBL. So does Port Elizabeth.

The question arise, how much will it cost to run a basketball league? Things are expensive these days. Some say if you enter business now and survive, things will be easy when the economy turns for the better. The experts say recession will continue for the next 18 months or so.

It is critical for each owner of the basketball status to seek sponsorship for their team. This must not be the role of Premier Basketball League Trust, who must seek sponsorship to add on what the clubs have as well as sponsorship for administration purposes. This will include sponsorship for paying referees, telephones, travelling by league officials, their accommodation and all those things. PBL must also seek sponsorship for their knockout competition which must also raise funds for running the league. The teams are responsible for own marketing as well as public relations efforts.

The previous calendar of PBL will refer.

Lets get this straight. According to www.basketball.co.za/calender the are 17 weeks for the professional matches. This does not consider the proposed knockout competition, the All Star weekend and the Four Nations Cup as well as Africa Competition.(This is the responsibility of BasketballSA { PBL must have their own brand. This will assist in the differentiation of the commonly used basketball. })

One status owner probably needs not more than 6 basketball kits. Lets say those will cost not more than R85 000 including basketballs, training gear and other small stuff such as basketball shoes and white socks. The venue must be hired from the local government offices. But that will be done on alternative weekends. For now you may want to hire outdoor basketball facilities. That will be not more than R45 000 when using the college facilities. An arena will be round about R 25 000 for the entire season. Two comfortable combis for the team will cost about R 600 000. Petrol for the year should not be over R 150 000. The money to spend on the road should not be more than R 300 000 which includes accommodation and catering.

Ok folks, the amounts above add up to R 1 205 000. That excludes salaries for athletes and other officials. Also excluded may be administration costs I do not know much of. As business people you can cut the costs of running a team.

With 10 teams, that will be over 10 million bucks.

Once the PBL is up and running, it will be easier to publish in the national media. Broadcast sponsorship will be easily accessible. After three consistent months of the league, marketers will enquire about branding. A few teams will get their own sponsors within a year. Money from gate takings must be asked from the first game. This will breed the culture of paying for entertainment, from the word go. Merchandise must also be sold by the clubs. The must be a corporate PBL basketball magazine unlike the previous Slam Dunk.

That is easy said than done. It can be done, only by the powerful status owners.