That has tragic features: after years, the Baskets have a troupe with a charisma that the fans would have wished for again and again after the disappointing last seasons – and now the audience is not allowed in the Telekom Dome. After the impressions of the preparatory and cup games, the team seems to be much more harmonious than in the two previous years, as it was with Oliver Hanlan, Stefan Bircevic and Nate Linhart (2018/19) as well as Alec Brown, Eugene Lawrence and Donald Sloan (2019/20) each gave three additional commitments – and the sporting result was still unsatisfactory.
The budget was practically halved
This time the season goal is not defined in the sporting area. After all, who can guarantee that the playing time will go on regularly and end in play-offs in May? That players don’t always get sick or entire teams have to be quarantined? That the championship will not be interrupted or even canceled? No, Corona will determine the processes in the BBL.
The ultimate goal can therefore only be: to survive economically in a season in which in extreme cases there will only be ghost games or at least radical audience restrictions. President Wolfgang Wiedlich, who doesn’t tend to be overly optimistic about his temperament, analyzed the situation in March / April with cool realism and a skeptical view of the medium-term development – and prescribed a radical austerity program for the club. The budget was practically halved with a reduction of 2.5 million euros, so the decision not to go to the final round in May was consistent.
The team could be one
arouse new enthusiasm
So if the primary aim is to get through the season financially, it is still worth not to be overestimated if the team really builds on the style of play and charisma of the “old basketball virtues” (total commitment, team play, defense). Thanks to the TV broadcasts, it could arouse new enthusiasm even without direct fan contact, an enthusiasm that had recently suffered noticeably and resulted in crumbling audience numbers.
Reversing this trend can succeed, especially in the pandemic. Due to the compulsory abstinence with eight months without a live game, many fans have become aware that they are missing more without baskets than they wanted to admit in recent years, when some found regular participation in the play-off quarter-finals as a boring routine. In the best case, Corona can help to correct the standards here.
