Executive Summary
Basketball Australia has managed major basketball events in the country. It has always strived to allow upcoming players to improve their craft professionally and progressively. The 2015 Australian National Basketball League is not different because the association strives to provide the same opportunity for new entrants to play professional basketball and provide its fans with unrivaled entertainment in the sports industry.
In line with this goal, this report is a bid to host the tournament during the 2015 summer period at the WA Basketball Centre, Western Australia. It contains important details about the event, including the event plan, the impact of the event, contingency plan, event concept, forecasts, financial viability, legacy, profile, and our advantages over competitors. By hosting this event, there will be many social and economic benefits for the residents of Western Australia and the wider national sports fraternity.
Details of Plan
Location
The Western Australia Basketball Centre (Floreat) will be the main location of the Australian National Basketball League. The center has only two show courts with a seating capacity of 2000 people (Government of Western Australia, 2014). The players can train at the center’s six training courts. The venue has hosted other events, including the 2013 games when the National Basketball League Champions, Perth Wildcats played with SBL All-Stars as a preparation game for their major league match (Government of Western Australia, 2014).
Date/Time
The event would take place in the summer of 2015 (10 December 2015 – 18 December 2015).
Participation
Eight teams will participate in the Australian National Basketball League. They include Perth, Melbourne, NZ Breakers, Sydney, Wollongong, Townsville, Adelaide, and Cairns.
Tournament Format
The eight competing teams will split into two groups of four teams. Each team will have to play their competitors in the same group (group stages). In total, each team will play three games. The following setup outlines the team categories
- Group A: A1, A2, A3, A4
- Group B: B1, B2, B3, B4
The final standing for each group will be A1, A2, and B1, B2. These teams represent the top two teams of each group. There will be four games played each day. In the semi-finals (second last day of the tournament), the top teams will play two games. The winners will play on the last day of the tournament (finals).
Impact of Event
Different sports events have different impacts on communities. This is true for the Australian National Basketball League, which will have many economic and social impacts on Western Australia. For example, socially, the sports event would enhance national awareness of the Basketball game and increase West Australia’s competency in hosting such events. This advantage would be financially rewarding to the region because it will increase economic activity, as visitors, spectators, and players come to participate in the event (Wyludda, 2009). For example, increased human traffic in Western Australia would increase the demand for transport services, tourism facilities, hotel services, and such amenities that Western Australia has to offer.
Similarly, there are bound to be increased infrastructure investments for accommodating increased human traffic and improved quality of existing transport networks (Jordan, Hayle, Truly, & Tyson, 2012). Many cities that have hosted international and national sports events have benefitted from such improvements. For example, London benefitted from the development of new transport networks when it hosted the 2012 Olympic Games. Communities can also benefit from increased employment opportunities in the same regard. Therefore, economies benefit from increased revenue (increased foreign exchange) when they host national and international sports events. Western Australia will benefit from the same.
At social and economic levels, hosting the Australian Basketball League would also improve the quality of the region’s sports facilities. Indeed, holding an event of such a magnitude would require the designated sports facility to meet global standards of safety, accommodation, and health (Maennig & Zimbalist, 2012). Overall, the locals would benefit from such upgrades because they would use the sports facility after the event ends.
Therefore, hosting the Australian Basketball League would be immensely beneficial for local communities. Lastly, hosting an event of such a magnitude creates many social and cultural opportunities for locals to interact and share experiences with people from other cultures. This occurrence would increase people’s exposure to new experiences and possibly promote their cultural and social development.
Contingencies
Many perils could affect the proposed basketball games. Some of them are environmental and others are artificial. The following contingency plan outlines how we plan to mitigate some safety, health, and environmental concerns.
Bad Weather
The Western Australia Basketball Centre is enclosed. Therefore, environmental effects, such as winds and rain cannot affect the games or the spectators.
Poor Attendance
Poor attendance could significantly reduce the financial potential of hosting the Australian National Basketball Championship in Western Australia. To mitigate this risk, we will undertake an expanded marketing and advertisement strategy that should reach all regions in the country. Here, we plan to use television, print media, and radio as the main communication channels. This strategy should allow us to reach up to 70% of the population (Masterman, 2010).
Online marketing (social media and networking) will account for the deficit. Lastly, we plan to attract corporate sponsorship to the event to offset some of the financial costs associated with hosting the event. In this regard, we aim to meet with senior corporate executives who would be interested in participating in the event. This way, even when we have low gate collections, our budget remains intact.
Security
Misunderstandings and disagreements are characteristic of sports events (Masterman, 2009). Such occurrences may compromise the security of the spectators and players. Similarly, when we have a large gathering of people at one point, there are bound to be several security concerns (terrorism and the likes). To mitigate this challenge, we plan to employ three private security firms that will manage security inside the facility. We also plan to involve the local administration (local police) in the security structure to provide security to dignitaries and VIPs. They will also have the duty of screening spectators as they enter the facilities. This way, we will have a multipronged approach to managing security issues at the event.
Health and Safety
Basketball is a physically grueling activity. Players may incur serious injuries. To mitigate this issue, there will be six standby ambulances and 12 paramedics from three local hospitals that are located within a one-mile radius of the sports facility. Therefore, if spectators, or players, suffer injuries, they will get immediate medical attention. The motivation for using local medical personnel is their understanding of the local geography and their familiarity with local hospitals. Comprehensively, these measures would ensure the sports event goes on without any hitches.
References
Government of Western Australia. (2014). WA Basketball Centre.
Jordan, L., Hayle, C., Truly, D., & Tyson, B. (2012). Sports Event Management: The Caribbean Experience. New York, NY: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Maennig, W., & Zimbalist, A. (2012). International Handbook on the Economics of Mega Sporting Events. London, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Masterman, G. (2009). Strategic Sports Events Management: Olympic Edition. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
Masterman, G. (2010). Strategic Sports Event Management. London, UK: Routledge.
Wyludda, A. (2009). The Impact of a Mega Sports Event for a Nation. New York, NY: GRIN Verlag.