its frustrating that the streaming data release by kayo doesn't include the HAL. seems to be more recent data only. hopefully they continue to release this going forward. 


whatever is agreed to would surely have to be ratified by the FFA or new independent HAL? we don't wanna see a repeat of what happned on ch 10 over the last 2 years

That's a good point, but one wonders what say the FFA has in it.  Looks like Fox holds all the cards and makes the final decision on it.  Fox's only interest appear to be getting some of its money back.  The FFA can't just tell Fox to do it.

as i said in the other thread i can't believe i have heard nothing about the basketball world cup. how many people watched last night? 

I was at the Australia v Czech match, I don't know anything about basketball but if we can get past Spain in the semi we may well find ourselves world champions.

Unfortunately I'm just working in Shanghai and my last match is a classification match tomorrow, but I will watch the Aussies from home.

The Australian team has players at the highest level of the sport, despite its modest resources at home. Can we learn something from them? Perhaps, but not if we stick solely to the AFL and NRL model.

Definitely things to learn from the NBL. The top tier for both sports are not in Australia. Yes, the NBL has problems but they must be doing a few things right and you can also learn from their mistakes.

Football and basketball are two of the biggest beneficiaries of the shift of youth away from high contact sports such as Australian Rules and Rugby (both League and Union). They also both have a glittering overseas competition that provides a pathway for our best and brightest. There is also a strong international aspect to the game (although football is stronger at the moment, with basketball struggling to attract the truly elite players away from the NBA - but I feel that will change over time). Finally, and this one is probably a bit left field, but both also have very successful video game franchises (FIFA/PES and NBA 2K) which help to expose the younger generations to the elite levels of the game via their consoles - something which Aussie Rules and Rugby can't compete with.