Jeremy Loeliger has disclosed some impressive viewership numbers out of the US from Sunday’s NBL matches.
17,514 attended the clash between the Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks – the biggest crowd in NBL history – with the Kings getting the better of LaMelo Ball’s Hawks by five points to move to a 9-1 record.
Reigning champions the Perth Wildcats beat RJ Hampton’s New Zealand Breakers by 11 points in the following game.
Loeliger, who was appointed NBL Commissioner in August, was blown away by the social media audience who tuned into both matches, as well as the aggregate crowd attendance.
“We had 1.2 million viewers on Facebook out of the US for the Sydney Kings game and then probably a bit surprisingly straight afterwards, the later game between Perth and New Zealand, another 800,000 people,” Loeliger told SEN Whateley.
“That’s pretty late at night in the States and to get a carry-over audience like that was fantastic.
“Two million people tuning in on one day to watch NBL basketball out of the US, and 30,000 people in aggregate attending the two games – amazing numbers.”
According to Loeliger, the NBL has “struck a vein of gold” by having Ball plying his trade in Australia before next year’s NBA draft.
“There’s not another LaMelo Ball in terms of the current mix of marketability and capability,” he said.
“You see all these big basketball content producers like Slam, Ballislife, Bleacher Report currently focusing in on the next generation of LaMelo Balls and RJ Hamptons.
“We have struck a vein of gold in terms of LaMelo Ball.”
Listen to Jeremy Loeliger’s chat on SEN's Whateley in the player below