Breakers' success driving Kiwi basketball growth

The championship success of the New Zealand Breakers in the National Basketball League has been credited with driving attendance growth in the recently completed New Zealand domestic competition.

The Breakers became the first sporting team from New Zealand ever to win an Australian-based professional competition when they defeated the Cairns Taipans 2-1 to take out the 2010/11 iiNet NBL Championship in April.

The Breakers' success this season sparked sell-out crowds at their home venue, huge television audiences on New Zealand domestic television broadcaster SKY Sports and wild celebrations across the country that culminated in a victory parade through downtown Auckland.

The legacy of the Breakers' championship success is reportedly also having a knock-on effect for New Zealand's own domestic pro basketball league, the NZNBL.

The Kiwi competition saw eight of their nine teams record a growth in crowd figures, with the Southland Sharks, who were forced to play in a Velodrome venue after Stadium Southland's roof collapsed under heavy snowfall last September, the only team to experience a decline in attendances.

Research by The Southland Times newspaper has revealed that the average crowd attendance for the other eight NZNBL teams were all up on last season.

NZNBL board Chairman Sam Rossiter-Stead said the effect the New Zealand Breakers' championship had on the country's own domestic league could not be understated.

"It was fantastic PR for the game in this country," Rossiter-Stead explained, adding "more and more young people are getting into the game."

The success of the Breakers has also seen the NBL team's owner, Paul Blackwell, anointed to play a critical role in the on-going major governance review of the sport of basketball in New Zealand.

Blackwell has been co-opted on to a four-strong panel to compile a short list of candidates for four independent directors' slots on the reformed Board of Basketball New Zealand."

"This is crucial," Blackwell told the Sunday Star Times. "We're riding a wave at the moment. The Tall Blacks are doing well, the Breakers are doing well, spectator numbers are up for the (NZ) NBL, but we now need a strong governance platform to use that momentum and take the sport forward."

The Breakers commence their title defence on the Opening Night of the 2011/12 iiNet NBL Championship season, playing on the road against the Gold Coast Blaze on Friday 7th October.

3rd May 2011 - BREAKERS SET FOR AUCKLAND VICTORY PARADE

29th September 2009 - TIM HAMILTON TO HEAD BASKETBALL NEW ZEALAND