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Post by LTFan on Oct 12, 2021 11:12:47 GMT
A WhatsBev thread to discuss the London Lions in the FIBA Europe Cup.
Round One of the Regular Season.
32 teams, split into 8 groups of 4 teams.
The top 2 teams in each group qualify for the second round of the regular season.
London Lions Fixtures
Weds 13th October - Donar Groningen (A)
Weds 20th October - Kapfenberg Bulls (H)
Weds 27th October - Medi Bayreuth (H)
Weds 3rd November - Donar Groningen (H)
Weds 10th November - Kapfenberg Bulls (A)
Weds 17th November - Medi Bayreuth (A)
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Post by LTFan on Oct 12, 2021 11:16:03 GMT
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Post by reallyoldfeenixfan on Oct 12, 2021 16:44:01 GMT
Looking at that time it's NOT our time zone. I think its 5:30 but I hope someone will correct mee on that if I'm wrong.
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Post by everard on Oct 12, 2021 17:02:57 GMT
CET 1 HR ahead of BST so 19:00 hrs tip
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Post by saintpat on Oct 12, 2021 22:22:54 GMT
Update on ticket sales for Lions games next Wednesday. 35 for the men, still just 1 for the ladies!!
Just over 1 week left for sales, let's hope that there's a peak in sales by the end of the weekend.
Posted on here as the other Lions thread has been removed, presumably because it's another thread that got hijacked by the tedious bickering between certain posters. I really don't care who said what & to who. I just wish they'd ****ing shut up about it!!
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starman
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Favourite Team: Derby Trailblazers
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Post by starman on Oct 12, 2021 23:55:29 GMT
Posted on here as the other Lions thread has been removed, presumably because it's another thread that got hijacked by the tedious bickering between certain posters. I really don't care who said what & to who. I just wish they'd ****ing shut up about it!! [/quote]
Unfortunately we all know that's not gonna happen. Both sides are incapable.
Genuinely think it's having an impact on the number of posts on this once great board.
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Post by notoriousbigz on Oct 13, 2021 5:52:20 GMT
I'm going to try and watch as much of this as I can. Not least because Matt Otten is apparently coaching Groningen - a man Nix and Mersey Tigers fans (are there any left? I think I may have killed the souls of all of them inadvertently) should remember relatively well.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2021 6:09:40 GMT
Yeah, he was alright! As I take time off from being libelled, some thoughts about their pricing. This is free to view, there's a link on Lions' website and it's confirmed as 19:00 BST. I people take as much interest in the women's game tomorrow, they have a real chance of progressing and their form this season has been pretty spectacular. |
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Post by reallyoldfeenixfan on Oct 13, 2021 8:27:51 GMT
I haven't forgotten Matt Otten ( and it rhymes).
With such little interest from London, I suspect that if Lions were to transfer one home game to another venue anywhere else in the country they'd get a bigger crowd.
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Post by saintpat on Oct 13, 2021 8:32:33 GMT
I haven't forgotten Matt Otten ( and it rhymes). With such little interest from London, I suspect that if Lions were to transfer one home game to another venue anywhere else in the country they'd get a bigger crowd. Not at £27.50!! |
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Post by drivethebody on Oct 13, 2021 8:46:14 GMT
I haven't forgotten Matt Otten ( and it rhymes). With such little interest from London, I suspect that if Lions were to transfer one home game to another venue anywhere else in the country they'd get a bigger crowd. I’m surprised the Copper Box arena has taken them back but it’s a splendid venue and if that doesn’t attract punters no where will. The MSG arena has been shelved for now which will make the Copper Box sleep a little easier. The East London University is a little inaccessible if that were to be the new home |
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Post by notoriousbigz on Oct 13, 2021 9:36:53 GMT
I haven't forgotten Matt Otten ( and it rhymes). With such little interest from London, I suspect that if Lions were to transfer one home game to another venue anywhere else in the country they'd get a bigger crowd. He was a tough dude Matt, real glue guy too so I'm really interested to see the style of play he implements into his team.
And I'd go with that. They could stage it in a non-BBL city like Birmingham or Liverpool and they'd see more people.
Youd think with a rebrand they'd dramatically increase efforts to get a good reputation and brand visibility. But apparently not.
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Post by LTFan on Oct 13, 2021 11:51:02 GMT
Update on ticket sales for Lions games next Wednesday. 35 for the men, still just 1 for the ladies!! Just over 1 week left for sales, let's hope that there's a peak in sales by the end of the weekend. Wow. But at £27.50 a ticket and mid-week, I'm not totally surprised. What I am surprised about is them apparently really not caring if any fans turn up any more. Maybe focus a little less on the branding and a little more on enticing people to come and see the games. There's not much point in having amazing branding (!) if no ones seeing it. By the way I saw davef give a sly glance at the camera during this week's Sunday Night Breakdown when £27.50 was mentioned.  |
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Post by LTFan on Oct 13, 2021 11:52:41 GMT
I haven't forgotten Matt Otten ( and it rhymes). With such little interest from London, I suspect that if Lions were to transfer one home game to another venue anywhere else in the country they'd get a bigger crowd. The MSG arena has been shelved for now which will make the Copper Box sleep a little easier. The East London University is a little inaccessible if that were to be the new home I suspect the Copper Box are laughing all the way to the bank. The Lions are paying them the same amount to hire the venue regardless as to whether anyone is buying tickets. It's the Lions that are losing out financially in this equation. |
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Post by LTFan on Oct 13, 2021 11:56:42 GMT
Quick update on the odds for tonight game... most bookmakers have Donar Groningen as favourites to win, by approximately 20 points.
First game of the regular season, first game for Lions ever in the competition... the odds are difficult to calculate, but I think its quite clear who the expected winner will be anyway.
I hope they're wrong of course. But I won't be taking that bet.
EDIT: Looks like it’s a 10 point winning margin being predicted, so not as bad as I initially thought.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2021 12:10:47 GMT
I’m surprised the Copper Box arena has taken them back but it’s a splendid venue and if that doesn’t attract punters no where will.The MSG arena has been shelved for now which will make the Copper Box sleep a little easier. The East London University is a little inaccessible if that were to be the new home I suspect the Copper Box are laughing all the way to the bank. The Lions are paying them the same amount to hire the venue regardless as to whether anyone is buying tickets. It's the Lions that are losing out financially in this equation. Add in payroll, travel and venue costs it seems quite a cash burn for no possible return. I live in Stratford and that mall is HUGE. It has to be 50,000 people a week coming through there. What a waste of potential customers. I saw a couple of signs for the game on their digital bord and at Shake Shake but seems no conversion. The right product, marketing etc and that place is a treasure trove of potential fans. Just a matter of time before they get tired of burning through cash. |
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Post by LTFan on Oct 13, 2021 13:05:19 GMT
I suspect the Copper Box are laughing all the way to the bank. The Lions are paying them the same amount to hire the venue regardless as to whether anyone is buying tickets. It's the Lions that are losing out financially in this equation. Add in payroll, travel and venue costs it seems quite a cash burn for no possible return. I live in Stratford and that mall is HUGE. It has to be 50,000 people a week coming through there. What a waste of potential customers. I saw a couple of signs for the game on their digital bord and at Shake Shake but seems no conversion. The right product, marketing etc and that place is a treasure trove of potential fans. Just a matter of time before they get tired of burning through cash. I don't think anyone disagrees, hence the frustration of them sticking to the £27.50 ticket price. It feels there's a market to be had that they're doing nothing about. And, bringing it back on topic, these European games are just another example of that. |
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Post by youngrocks on Oct 13, 2021 13:08:08 GMT
Someone compared it to a cinema visit. The space out there for entertainment is so crowded. Its not the point of saying this is our price and not budging when the audience clearly aren't responding and paying.
I hope london do well and are successful
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Post by drivethebody on Oct 13, 2021 13:27:24 GMT
Add in payroll, travel and venue costs it seems quite a cash burn for no possible return. I live in Stratford and that mall is HUGE. It has to be 50,000 people a week coming through there. What a waste of potential customers. I saw a couple of signs for the game on their digital bord and at Shake Shake but seems no conversion. The right product, marketing etc and that place is a treasure trove of potential fans. Just a matter of time before they get tired of burning through cash. I don't think anyone disagrees, hence the frustration of them sticking to the £27.50 ticket price. It feels there's a market to be had that they're doing nothing about. And, bringing it back on topic, these European games are just another example of that. £27.50 (although cheaper deals are available as has been said) is about £12 too much for the comparative entertainment. (Cinema ticket up west, non league soccer match - about £15 the National League which has bigger crowds so maybe National league south), a 10 pin bowling evening for a couple of games or a Nando’s meal) |
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Post by reallyoldfeenixfan on Oct 13, 2021 14:43:54 GMT
Rough calculation
1× £27:50 = £27:50
10 × £10 = £100
Heaven forbid if 100 people arrived!!
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Post by saintpat on Oct 13, 2021 15:18:35 GMT
This made me laugh, looked at ticket sales behind the basket. Billy no-mates is a massive understatement for the person who bought that single ticket!  |
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Post by Steven McTowelie on Oct 13, 2021 16:15:03 GMT
20 points is a crazy handicap. Where on earth did you find that? It's 8.5 on the exchange.
Donar have had quite a bit of success over the last decade. Won the Dutch league multiple times and have had a few good runs in this competition. They actually failed to make it through qualifying this year so have presumably got in as some sort of lucky loser.
Had a quick glance at their roster ahead of our preseason meetings. No massive standouts but they looked a good-ish side. Beat us pretty comfortably but we were missing a lot. No Geno, no Zach, obviously no Lee. And Loving had just met up with the team in the Netherlands and was really in no position to make a big contribution. With a full strength side I reckon they're a team we could have competed well with, perhaps even beaten. And if you've got seven overseas players, two of whom have played in the NBA, this is definitely a side you should be able to compete with.
Think these Donar matchups are the most difficult ones to call. I'm lazily assuming that Medi Bayreuth will be the toughest opponents in this group, based on little else besides the fact that they're obviously from the strongest domestic league. And as I suggested in the now deleted thread, I think Kapfenberg Bulls should be eminently beatable. Regular participants in this competition lately but have yet to make much of an impression. Got walloped in their BCL qualifier by a similar margin to Lions. Only three Americans and none of them look particularly spectacular. They don't look at all deep either. Lost their Austrian league opener a few days ago and only used nine guys. And that's counting two teenagers who only played very minor minutes... so basically a seven man rotation. I think this is a team a normally budgeted top BBL side would quite fancy a crack at.
Lions can get away with losing tonight but it shouldn't be a pasting. And that home opener next week is one they need to win.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2021 16:21:07 GMT
For those that don’t know, FIBA Europe is pretty much the least standard of European competition and even if Lions won the whole thing, no one on the real basketball universe would care. Let alone punters as you say over here.
So whether it’s £27 or £5 per ticket, this level and standard of basketball seems just not attractive to general audiences. Playing in an empty 6000 seat arena at this stage is just plain stupid. Isn’t there a 500-1000 seat gym around??
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Post by LTFan on Oct 13, 2021 17:26:12 GMT
20 points is a crazy handicap. Where on earth did you find that? It's 8.5 on the exchange. Donar have had quite a bit of success over the last decade. Won the Dutch league multiple times and have had a few good runs in this competition. They actually failed to make it through qualifying this year so have presumably got in as some sort of lucky loser. Had a quick glance at their roster ahead of our preseason meetings. No massive standouts but they looked a good-ish side. Beat us pretty comfortably but we were missing a lot. No Geno, no Zach, obviously no Lee. And Loving had just met up with the team in the Netherlands and was really in no position to make a big contribution. With a full strength side I reckon they're a team we could have competed well with, perhaps even beaten. And if you've got seven overseas players, two of whom have played in the NBA, this is definitely a side you should be able to compete with. Think these Donar matchups are the most difficult ones to call. I'm lazily assuming that Medi Bayreuth will be the toughest opponents in this group, based on little else besides the fact that they're obviously from the strongest domestic league. And as I suggested in the now deleted thread, I think Kapfenberg Bulls should be eminently beatable. Regular participants in this competition lately but have yet to make much of an impression. Got walloped in their BCL qualifier by a similar margin to Lions. Only three Americans and none of them look particularly spectacular. They don't look at all deep either. Lost their Austrian league opener a few days ago and only used nine guys. And that's counting two teenagers who only played very minor minutes... so basically a seven man rotation. I think this is a team a normally budgeted top BBL side would quite fancy a crack at. Lions can get away with losing tonight but it shouldn't be a pasting. And that home opener next week is one they need to win. I got the handicap wrong and later edited my post to say it was more like 10 points. Good post though, nice little preview of tonight match up, thanks.  |
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Post by notoriousbigz on Oct 13, 2021 17:28:56 GMT
For those that don’t know, FIBA Europe is pretty much the least standard of European competition and even if Lions won the whole thing, no one on the real basketball universe would care. Let alone punters as you say over here. So whether it’s £27 or £5 per ticket, this level and standard of basketball seems just not attractive to general audiences. Playing in an empty 6000 seat arena at this stage is just plain stupid. Isn’t there a 500-1000 seat gym around?? They would in the British market. And thats what matters. Im actually sure it would make national sports news. And its Europe Cup. Not FIBA Europe, which is the European branch of the world governing body. If you're going to preach sanctimony (despite saying you didnt know a bean when you apparently came here from the states), please get it right. |
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