Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Tim Watsford tells Katie Woolf he will meet with the NBL next week to discuss the potential for the NT to have a team in the league

Transcript

Tim Watsford tells Katie Woolf he will meet with the NBL next week to discuss the potential for the NT to have a team in the league · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Well in some pretty exciting news.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: I think you'd have to say the world class National
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Basketball League Blitz Tournament, it's kicking off in Darwin this week.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: And joining me on the line to tell us a
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: little bit more is Tim Watsford, the CEO of NT
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Major Events. Good morning to you.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Tim, Good morning Katie.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: How are you very well? Mate? Would I say kicking off?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I probably should have said bouncing off tomorrow, isn't it?
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Well, tip off or something on those lines I think
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: would be more appropriate.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: It would be it's very exciting. How many teams have
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: we got playing?
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is, I have to stay. It is really exciting.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: When we kind of went out and discussed the MBA
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: early on around what this could look like, Osborne a
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: bit underprepared around what traction this actually is going to
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: bring to the town. Look, it's every team, it's ten teams,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: and it's their full roster so to speak, including support
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: staff that are going to be up here from literally
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: today adelaide to doing a adelaide, doing a community game
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: in our spring today and yeah, tip off tomorrow. But look,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: being going to speak to the town and to pick
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: for the sport. And I think I mentioned publicly a
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: lot that hopefully this paves a way for us, you know,
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: things cross getting a license down the train.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's I think what everybody's sort of hoping for.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: So starting today or you've got the one of the
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: teams playing a game in Alice Springs today, that's pretty exciting.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: I'm sure the people of Alice are pumped.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, really exciting, and we wanted to try and really
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: broaden the scope of their imprint, their footprint on the territory,
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: and the thirty six is from Adelaide, you know, made
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: their way up to the center, So they're doing a
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: lot of stuff today and stick with around schools, community
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  Speaker 3: groups to your point, open training sessions and in a
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: quasi game to be here later tonight. But then yeah,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: then they're all they're all in train for tomorrow and
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: probably should state. We've just put the sold out sign
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: up for Saturday night as well out of it. So
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: tickets are moving really quick, and yeah, we've been unvoting
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  Speaker 3: with their feet, which is awesome.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Hey, I mean when you talk about that level, like
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: that number of teams and that level of support staff,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: how many people are we actually going to have here
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: as a result of the splits.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Look, the immediate imprint is between four and five hundred.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: That's purely from players and support staff. Then you add
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: on families that will get a good understanding of who's
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: coming up with them later in the week, and then fans. Look,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: I'm hoping this is a real little significant driver for
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  Speaker 3: the territory. They're filling up those the hotel rooms, all
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: the meeting rooms and book We found out yesterday that
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: they're putting informed from the team rooms to recovery sessions
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: at a Morara center. Is using a variety of venues
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: out there as well. So look, Odd Hope and guesstimating
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: at this point, you know, it's two two and a
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: half thousand people that'll be floating around during the week
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: in support of the blitz and a good shot in
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: the arm for a time that's a shoulder period.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: So yeah, the thing, Yeah, it really is. I mean
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: it's a great shot in the arm. And when you
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: talk about what that does for the economy, there's no
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: doubt that it will have a boost.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: It will absolutely will. I think we've talked to um
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: doing the face around what events do and can bring
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: from an economic perspective with this one, as well, what
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: I probably didn't appreciate Katie when we went out to
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: really start talking basketball is how much territories love basketball.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Look AFL and NRL and the big codes do you
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: get a lot of front page base, but there's an
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: underlying groundswell of support for the NBL right through everyone,
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: and it's quite overwhelming. So I think what we're going
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: to see next week is pride come out, community pride
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  Speaker 3: really show us based so in conjunction with a great
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: shot economically, it's a really good thing for the town.
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  Speaker 3: Hopefully it's it's really good thing for us as territory
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  Speaker 3: and top end to truly enjoy sport on a truly
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  Speaker 3: national level.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and like you said, people love their basketball. You know,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: how close are we here to the possibility of actually
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: having our own team.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: I don't want to jinx it, but I'll say that
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  Speaker 3: we're working really, really hard behind the scenes. We've got support.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Chiefs come out before and said, you know, that wouldn't
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: be great to have an MBL team. So's the NBL.
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  Speaker 3: They're looking really hard at their expansion program right across
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: country and into Southeast Asia. I'm saying quite quite proudly
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: that we pick a lot of boxes, you know, are
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: only four hours away from Southeast Asia, so we've can
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: really activate that Asian market where a territory that hasn't
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: been or has not ever had a professional sports team.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: So we're kind of groundbreaking in the NBL's eyes here
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  Speaker 3: to be the first, which is which is great, and
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: we've got the support, which is what kind of this
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: is a proof of concept. The coming week, we're hoping
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: everyone comes out and goes through their feet and say
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: this we want basketball and we show MBL that this
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: is something that we're genuine about. So look, I think
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  Speaker 3: we're a chance to be quite frank and I hope
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  Speaker 3: and I hope next week proves that, and you know,
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  Speaker 3: we can have a chat in a couple of weeks
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  Speaker 3: and say a bit more certainty around when something could
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: come our way.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, jeez, it'd be absolutely amazing. It'd be wonderful. You know,
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  Speaker 2: when you talk about that territory pride, I think it
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  Speaker 2: shines through with any of the sports that we're involved with.
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  Speaker 2: But when you then talk about having a national team,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: it would be you know, it'd be amazing.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is. And I think the other part of
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: it that we kind of move away from national team
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: is amazing piece. But they actually play Katie between October
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: and April, so that's an amazing time to activate our
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: low season. You know, fifteen home games at a venue
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: in and around Dahen training centers, activated hotel room. That's
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: a lot of people coming up in a traditional quiet time.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: And you know, I think when the world writes itself
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: from COVID in the next couple of years, is going
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: to be really important to put content into those lower seasons,
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: and this is certainly a fix for that. So I
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: guess the biggest question I've gotten for the NBA is
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: how quick can we get one done? If they're keam
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: that's our view here at ntmch and I'll say that,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: I'll say that proudly.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: And what was the answer? How quick could it be?
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Look, we'll go off what we've done in Tasmania is
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: the test case and the proofcase. They turn that round
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: and I think in about eighteen months now that's stretching it,
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: but it goes to show that, you know, if we
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: want it, the NBL can deliver now major events, proven
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: delivers in this space around around running major events. I
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: think that's one box particked. But Yeah, look, i'd hope,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: I'd hope in the coming years that we could definitely
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: have to be on the page to have something something
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: they call our own, Tim.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Where would they ply? That's I suppose the big question.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, really good question. That's discussions that we'll have over
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: next week with the pointy end of the NBL. The
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: training centers at the obviously the day and Basketball Center
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: and the new nearly done Netball Center are perfect from
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: a training venue perspective. I'm quite cognizant that there'll have
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: to be redevelopments of something could even be a convention
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: center space that we could use as the main venue
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: with just these are all the ideas that we've got
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: to kind of work for right now and talk to
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: them about what they need. They redeveloped a fully a
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: full arena in Tasmania to get that housed, So there'll
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: be there'll be discussions to be had next week around
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: what can we do and then I guess how quick
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: can we do it?
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: So, Tim, this doesn't sound like it's pie in the
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: sky kind of stuff. This sounds like it is actually,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: you know, like there's going to be serious discussions next
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: week about this.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: Yeahsolutely and I think Jeremy LaLiga, the commissioner of the
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: NBL was was pretty was pretty pointed his commentary when
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: we announced it to say this is this is a
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: proof of concept, you know, months ago when we announced
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: the blitz. So I'm hoping that and they've been great
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: to deal with. They have to have to thank Marry
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Tilson and the owner and Jeremy the commissioner of the league,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: as well as gos a cl and the up and
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: around next week. We've been really, really good to deal with.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: So I'm genuine in the fact that this is a
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: possibility if we can we can get the prospect to
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: stack up. You know, we're in good shape, I think,
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: and you know, hopefully, like I said, in a couple
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: of weeks to a month, we can have some fruitful
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: discussions with them with hopefully what will be a successful
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: week and and basically say how do we get this done?
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Well, we might need to have an update next week.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Tim Watson, it it sounds like this quind of been
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: happening right before I let you go. You know, you
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: would think that towards the end of the year it
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: would start to quieten down a little bit. For endt
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: major events, but not for you guys. You still got
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: heaps going on.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the guys, the guys do. When we kind of
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: spring an NBL blitz two weeks after Red cin and
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Outs which was probably the biggest one we've done down there,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: our last weekend which was which is a rating success.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: There's a few we realize. The guys love it though.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: They're ringing it up. Where we're literally in planning stage
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: at the moment where the fantastic board meeting yesterday around
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: what next year looks like, so base will be bigger,
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: supercars will be bigger, and then obviously we're we're in
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: market now with our grant funding rounds, so the arm
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: of the business that supports you know, after seventy events
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: a year from a funding to spend pop on the
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: half of government's got the hands thirty at the moment.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: So now, guys, but we're busy. You love it.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: This is the best lots happening.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Well, Tim Watson, let's catch up next week and find
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: out if we're going to have an NBL team from
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you then, good on you always good
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: catching up thanks.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Mate, see yea and of course well, we were talking
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: about the NBL Blitz, the twenty twenty two Blitz. It
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: kicks off as we all know now the sixteenth, so tomorrow,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: runs until the twenty third, and if you do want
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: to get your hands on tickets, just head to NBL Blitz.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Dot com dot au. It is going to be fantastic.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: You know, I love sport and I love seeing wonderful
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: sport at such a high level here in the Northern Territory.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Keen to hear from you though this morning as well.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: What do you think about this discussion? Would you like
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: to see the Northern Territory have our very own NBL
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: team Send us a message or give us a call
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: and let us know