Q & A: Australian National Basketball League - February 2004  

Rick Burton

In August 2003, Rick Burton, former Director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, hung up his mortarboard, donned his sneakers and hopped on a plane half way around the world to become Commissioner of the Australian National Basketball League. Rachael Church, Editor of Sport and Technology, caught up with Burton to see how he is enjoying his new role and to hear his views on the current sports technology marketplace.

How much of an impact is technology having on the Australian National Basketball League?

"Technology is having an impact on every sport. One of the ways it is most easily seen is through the internet, although the internet is an old story in the sense that much has been written about it and many people believe they understand what the internet's function is, and how it is changing fan avidity or consumption. I went to see one of our teams play recently - the Sydney Kings - and there weren't any announcements during the game about other scores from around the league. So when I got home I immediately raced over to my computer and logged on. It was a functioning resource that enabled me to find out all the data that was available on the other two or three games that were played that night. What it did at a certain level was extended my connectivity to the game and the league and that holds for a number of spectators regardless of the sport code. The internet and technology are really extending the fan's opportunity to be committed to or involved with a game. But in doing that and making that commitment to the computer, fans are probably dedicating less time to watching the television. There's been a trade off between how much of a role the television plays and the increasing role of the computer or the data processor. I think that's critically important for leagues and one of the first things I did here was renegotiate our television deal and then renegotiate our internet deal."

How important was it for you to keep your television and internet rights unbundled?

"We had the opportunity to be involved with a sponsor that wanted to be able to essentially offer us a live streaming capability but it actually threatened our TV relationships and came at a cost that we weren't prepared at this stage to address. So we chose not to go into that partnership. But it's an issue that isn't going to go away. Telephony and technology are going to be married and that convergence of digital technology and even appliances is really racing at a rate that I really don't believe everyone fully grasps."

Do you think anyone will really make money out of sport and new media?

"We know that the Vodafones, Telstras and the Oranges have been particularly aggressive and doing quite well. And with certain properties the rights fees have gone up and not down. Also certain broadcast partners are more forthright than ever in their search for content and ad agencies are continuing to survive - their services are needed in newer and more comprehensive ways. I think the answer is 'yes', groups will make money but also groups that don't understand technology will be made obsolete faster than at any other time in history."

Do you think sports properties such as yourselves should take a greater role in embracing new technology?

"It varies by country and by sport and by familiarity with the technology. The sports marketplace is more saturated than ever before and the challenges are based around the fact you now have more global sports codes than local codes. I am based here in Australia and therefore not only might I be dealing with competition from the Australian Football League and the National Rugby League but we just had the Rugby World Cup which was a real competitor to us in the marketplace. It came on the heels of the Sydney Olympics and in the shadow of the Commonwealth Games that will be held in Melbourne in 2006. And that's not ruling out a number of other sports that are available because of technology in ways that would have never been thought about before. A perfect example is the US' National Football League. Many Australians at one time wouldn't have even had the opportunity to be exposed to it let alone see it in realtime. Now they can watch Monday morning [Australian time] games on the internet at the workplace and that is critically important. Global sports like basketball and soccer are probably going to have a broader reach through technology, and certain properties like the NFL or Australian football or Canadian hockey might have a tougher time if they can't harness the technology because they now have to make people from Africa through to Antarctica care about their sport."

Is the Australian National Basketball League making any money from new media?

"We are not making what we should or could and I don't think we've harnessed it properly yet. It is very high on my list of objectives for the League. However, there's a hug gap between saying it and understanding it and doing it. There's a great chasm in skillsets. When I look at what UEFA or the FA [English Football Association] are doing, I think they have got it quite figured out. And the hundreds of millions of dollars generated by the NFL through utilising new technology is so impressive. But I think there are other sports codes - and I include us in that - who haven't yet figured it all out yet."

Are there any sports properties in Australia that have impressed you through their use of technology?

"Australian football - the AFL - is the code over here with its thumb on the pulse the most and partly that's due to economies of scale and history. The NBL is relatively new being only 25 years old whereas the AFL really stretches back 100 years. It has built up decades of experience - much like the NFL - and hundreds of employees, putting it in a much better position to make technological advancements. Some of the smaller codes are struggling to keep all the pieces in place on a day to day basis."

In your opinion, what will play the greatest role in the roll-out of sports new media services?

"My experience in the US was that the average home has around 100 TV channels, three to four TV sets and 70-75% penetration by cable. When I came to Australia, the cable penetration was much lower (around 25%) and free-to-air television is still the dominant format, reaching around 95% of all Australians. Development therefore of television or telephony on a country or continental basis will affect the way sport is delivered and the way in which it is received and consumed."

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