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WNBL REVIEW 2014 REPORT 1. OVERVIEW AND SCOPE OF REPORT ........................................................................................... 5 1.1 OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVE ......................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................... 6 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 8 3. LANDSCAPE AND STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK ........................................................................... 12 3.1 INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL LANDSCAPE .................................................................................................. 12 3.2 AUSTRALIAN BASKETBALL LANDSCAPE ...................................................................................................... 12 3.3 BA STRATEGIC PLAN ................................................................................................................................ 16 3.4 WNBL BUSINESS PLAN ............................................................................................................................ 16 3.5 WNBL OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 17 4. COMPETITION STRUCTURE ......................................................................................................... 20 4.1 NUMBER OF TEAMS .................................................................................................................................. 20 4.2 LOCATION OF TEAMS ................................................................................................................................ 21 5. COMPETITION SCHEDULING ....................................................................................................... 26 5.1 SEASON LENGTH ...................................................................................................................................... 26 5.2 SEASON TIMING ....................................................................................................................................... 28 5.3 MATCH SCHEDULING ................................................................................................................................ 30 6. COMPETITION OPERATIONS & RESOURCING .......................................................................... 34 6.1 COMPETITION RULES AND REGULATIONS ................................................................................................... 34 6.2 WNBL COMMISSION ................................................................................................................................. 36 6.3 HUMAN RESOURCES ................................................................................................................................ 38 6.4 OPERATIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 40 6.5 MATCH VENUES ....................................................................................................................................... 41 7. CLUB STRUCTURES ..................................................................................................................... 44 7.1 CURRENT OWNERSHIP STRUCTURES ........................................................................................................ 44 7.2 OWNERSHIP BENCHMARKING .................................................................................................................... 45 8. PLAYERS ........................................................................................................................................ 49 8.1 CHAMPIONSHIP LADDERS .......................................................................................................................... 49 8.2 NATIONAL TEAM & FOREIGN PLAYERS ....................................................................................................... 50 8.3 YOUTH DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................................................. 54 8.4 DISTRIBUTION OF TALENT ......................................................................................................................... 56 8.5 ELITE COACHES AND REFEREES ............................................................................................................... 58 9. BASKETBALL FANS ...................................................................................................................... 60 9.1 CROWD ATTENDANCES ............................................................................................................................. 60 9.2 TELEVISION AUDIENCES ............................................................................................................................ 62 9.3 CUSTOMER RESEARCH ............................................................................................................................. 64 10. BASKETBALL PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................................... 70 11. LEAGUE MARKETING ................................................................................................................. 73 11.1 MARKETING RESOURCES ........................................................................................................................ 73 11.2 PLAY TO STRENGTHS ............................................................................................................................. 74 11.3 PLAYERS AS AMBASSADORS ................................................................................................................... 76 11.4 BROADCAST AND PARTNER ACTIVATION .................................................................................................. 77 11.5 THE DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY .................................................................................................................... 78 11.6 IMPROVED CAPABILITY ............................................................................................................................ 80 12. COST STRUCTURES ................................................................................................................... 82 12.1 BA AND WNBL BUDGETS ....................................................................................................................... 82 12.2 TEAM BUDGETS ..................................................................................................................................... 83 13. REVENUE STREAMS ................................................................................................................... 85 13.1 SPONSORSHIP ........................................................................................................................................ 85 13.2 MERCHANDISE AND LICENSING ................................................................................................................ 86 2 13.3 MATCH DAY REVENUE ............................................................................................................................ 86 13.4 NEW PRODUCT ...................................................................................................................................... 87 14. FULL LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................ 89 15. OPTIMAL COMPETITION MODEL ............................................................................................... 94 16. IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP ................................................................................................... 97 16.1 FREE THROW – STABILISE FOUNDATIONS ................................................................................................ 97 16.2 FIELD GOAL – BUILD SUPPORT ............................................................................................................... 98 16.3 THREE POINTER – DELIVER RETURNS ..................................................................................................... 99 ANNEXURE A: TERMS OF REFERENCE .......................................................................................... 100 3 4 1. OVERVIEW AND SCOPE OF REPORT 1.1 Overview and Objective The Wattle Valley Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) is Australia’s longest running elite women’s national competition. In 34 seasons, the WNBL has played a critical role in unearthing new talent, and increasing the quality and technical ability of players whilst also providing an opportunity to showcase the best female basketballers. The future challenge for the WNBL is to create commercial opportunities and to build and grow a sustainable competition and club model. The focus of this review was on the structure, administration and promotion of the WNBL, with particular emphasis on long-term sustainability and growth. By its nature, the league is integrally linked to community participation (and the 100,000 registered females playing basketball) and with national team success (with the Opals ranked 2nd in the world). In conducting the review and designing the optimal competition model, consideration was given to the following 12 elements: