Can NDBL Expansion Stimulate Minor Athletics?
The NBDL announced major expansion plans as Commissioner Stern pushes forward with the goal of a development league for players who either don't have NCAA academics, or need additional time or visibility after college to prepare for the NBA. Will it benefit the other sports playing in indoor arenas, or will it cannibalize more of a limited audience?

NEWS ANALYSIS - 04.04.05 - The NBA announced that it’s National Basketball Development League (NBDL) was expanding and moving Westward last month.  While that is particularly good news for the ailing minor basketball industry, it’s even better news for stadiums, and teams in other indoor venues.

One of the hitches to arena redevelopment that usually is largely footed on civic coin is that it takes a lot of activity to keep a new venue worth it’s weight in bonds or other obligations to the city if only one sports franchise is using the facility.  There are a number of cities where plans to either improve existing facilities, or create facilities to bring in teams has been stymied because the arena can attract hockey, but not arena football and basketball.

Basketball is a key to smoothing over arena improvement.  Hockey or football can ride some mighty big coattails with the public when the NBA’s brand-name is attached to a deal to bring in a team to a smaller local market under the NBDL. Admittedly the CBA still has higher attendance figures in most markets, but in places like Albuquerque, where the local university and national college basketball tournaments can chase off smaller independent leagues, the NBA brings in a brand awareness that gives new stadium ventures added clout.

As more indoor arenas in small and mid-size markets become multi-sport professional facilities, the question is: Can the teams synergize rather than cannibalize?   There are some markets where the ownership group owns teams across two or more sports. They often offer deals to season ticket holders for a year-long, multi-season package that insure that fans come to a series of games in each sport.

The NBDL has been run from the top-down since its inception.  On a national level, that has meant good opportunities for players, and less haggling for the NBA with local tribal lords.  Unfortunately, it also bucks the generally accepted theory that local ownership has a bigger investment in the community and hence the success of a team in the community.  A common complaint from NBDL players is that they play in one of the best leagues for getting a good opportunity to be seen in the NBA, but they play in front of some of the smallest crowds in professional minor league sports.   

The NBA, based on its expansion choices, may be hoping for some lift in its NBDL attendance from being part of a package of sporting events.  How does inter-team cooperation work currently?

The Estero Experience

One of the few three-sport venues in the NBDL system currently is the Germain Arena (formerly the TECO Arena), in Estero, Florida.

MLN’s Stadium Experience Squad was dispatched to check out the teams, their cooperation, and the brand awareness generated in the community.  We ranked the stadium on a scale of 1-10 (10=Best) in a variety of categories that  might defiine success for all of the teams in the building.

Stadium Facility (9):

Located off US75 near a large, upscale outlet mall between the tourist markets of Naples and Ft. Meyers, this modern venue seats 7,128 and offers club and restaurant seating on the top floor.  The venue houses two amateur ice rinks that also can serve as practice facilities.  The Arena is right off the highway, in a great location near a small man-made lake, with ample parking.  One small problem is the naming of the facility.  There is some confusion, even via the team’s own websites, as the arena was recently renamed.  The community still largely knows the facility as TECO Arena, which is reinforced by the FireCats in places like their website, which still identifies the stadium that way.

Stadium Signage (2):

The Everblades are the principal tenant of the building.  They don’t just get top billing. They get the only real billing from the highway.  The NBDL and the af2 are invisible.

Ticket Office (8):

The ticket office is well run for single-game purchases and  has readily available brochures for each of the teams.  When we inquired about season tickets, they were able to get us to the Everblades, but told us that we would have to call the Firecats and Flames, who did not have anyone in the building who could see us .   All tickets were separate, and they were not aware of any cross-sport deals to be had for season holders.

Team Cross Promotion (2):

The Everblades’ website shows the complete sports schedule for the Germain Arena, including FireCats and Flame games.  The FireCats and Flame make no linkage to the other teams in the building in any way that we could determine from the web and paper promotions that we sampled.

Community Brand Awareness:  Everblades (8); Flame (3); FireCats(1)

While our polling was wholly unscientific and cannot be used for any statistical purposes, the anecdotal information was interesting. The Everblades have done their homework. From Ft. Meyers to Naples, we found evidence of good brand awareness of the team, and sponsors who did a reasonable job of promoting them.  People knew where the stadium was located, even if they didn’t always get the name of the building right because of the name change.  

The amateur facility brings in a lot of the local hockey faithful, who could recite chapter and verse on their favorite players.  In such a large tourist market, though, we found many wintering Northerners who had no clue that there was hockey in the area who said, particularly in light of the lack of hockey in their NHL markets, that they would have liked to have seen a game if they had known about it.  The area hotels did not fare well for good information about the teams other than a few select properties with dedicated concierge desks or that sponsor/house players.

The story was less happy for the Flame and the FireCats.  

We found that few people knew about the Florida Flame.  Several locals we questioned knew that they were there, but didn’t know where they played. Many  locals didn’t know that the NBDL was an NBA product, and were pleasantly surprised when we informed them.  The team was all but invisible to the area hotels.  One front desk staffer out of twenty-two sites that we visited in Naples and Ft. Meyers knew that the team was there!

The FireCats win the Claude Reins Award for most invisible franchise.  Not only did people in the area have little idea that there was a team there, but a manager at a restaurant chain sponsor that has FireCat memorabilia and current schedules in the restaurant on the cashier's counter, just two blocks from the Germain Arena, told us that he thought the team went out of business when we asked about the memorabilia! This was reinforced by an assistant manager and several patrons until we pointed out the schedules. Obviously more needs to be done by the FireCats.

One arena may not be indicative of the whole system. It is a snapshot, though, of the challenges that even top-notch venues will face in making three-sport indoor professional minor league athletics viable.  

Estero is in relatively favorable conditions: A tourist market with little professional or college sports beyond Major League Baseball’s spring training and the Florida State/Gulf Coast Leagues.   Many of the NBDL’s other markets are adjacent to large NCAA programs. Arena Football’s af2 brand has undergone a lot of turn-over.  If the sponsors think that they’re out of business and they are fairly unknown in an optimal market, how will they fare in places with more competition?

There has been no hard data on how the pro teams in a small or medium market either aid or block each other, or how teams that function near large college programs do.

What is clear is that establishing the culture of professional sports strengthens all clubs working the same market.  Core fans for each sport will only make up so much of an audience.  The most successful markets will find ways to stimulate the casual fan to come out to a handful of games in each sport as a fun night out.

If the NBA’s NBDL can join the party in their communities in a more meaningful way, and bring some of the brilliant marketing that made the major league the huge success that it is today down to the minor league level, there are exciting times ahead for indoor minor athletics.