we have some more company with us Alistair Durden ‏@alidurdenBBC 38m Top-flight pro basketball is coming to Bristol in 2014 with news that Steve Lansdown's Bristol Sport Ltd are investing in http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/basketball/22905127
I hate basketball - they could have Miami Heat against Chicago Bulls in my back garden and I would not watch it
Bristol sport? It isn't a Bristol sport or an anglo saxon one. Don't like the focus on an American sport. Rugby has its niche, leave this minority sport where it is, no competition needed v football. .
I like basket ball use to play it a lot its reasonably popular as opposed to the american sports maybe they will have a court inside the redesigned stadium it would be easy to do and would mean the stadiums getting good use too. Ive watched some of the current english basket ball sides on sky sports the pro teams do get good crowds in the thousands rather than hundreds
Its a sports thats popular in this country with the 14 to late teens age group as was the case with me and friends, lets say they advertise city games at these matches i am sure it would tempt some potential new support. And could revenue from these outlets be used to fund the football club?
Cannot see any benefit in this. Would rather see football schools, league's and so forth taken over and linked into Bristol City FC. That would increase City's reach v a peripheral alien sport.
Apparently he is also going to have a water polo team and a beach volley ball team based at weston super mud
More people watch sunday pub teams in Bristol than basketball. At least put them in red and white (if they are not), call them the robins and Bristol City. Everything should point to the football club.
I quite like basketball, and I'm happy to see some investment put into it. However, I really don't get why the UK continues to push for professional leagues and teams considering the dominant nature of NBA. If the sport is even a tenth as popular as the NBA it'd be a miracle. I really can't see Lansdown investing a lot of money in this; probably just helping with infrastructure.
Bristol City FC, Bristol Rugby, Bristol Academy (women's football), Basketball, Table Tennis, Futsal (indoor 6 a side football). This is unlikely to be about undermining the first two clubs mentioned. It is much more likely to be the birth of an umbrella organisation for a Bristol (City) sports organisation similar to many European Football Clubs who run sections in many other sports. For example, SV Hamburg of the Bundesliga run a cricket section among other sports. PSV (Philips Sports Club) in Holland encompass other sports. And in Portugal, the great SL Benfica (Sport of Lisbon and Benfica, a district of Lisbon) have over twenty different sports in their organisation from Judo to Futsal, from Hockey to Athletics. If this is what Bristol Sport Ltd is aiming at, I for one wholeheartedly applaud Steve Lansdown and his colleagues for such an initiative. It could grow into the biggest investment in sport in the Bristol area and become a standard for other cities to follow. He has made his pile in Bristol and if I'm correct, he wants to put a lot back into the City where he has worked and employed people for almost the last forty years. Don't look for the negatives, because the positives to our City could be enormous.
Certainly backs local sport, but wonder if there's any strategy behind it. Darts is more popular than basketball, more run in club's, boxing gets big numbers and on. Don't like seeing a crap American sport given a hand up. We have enough sports to concentrate we need no elephant in the room. Bath netball down the road at least look fit.
Call it Bristol City. Look to include long established clubs like imperial, boys clubs, link it together. Easton Cowgirls/Cowboys have large numbers in their football/cricket clubs.Weird alternative scene but under one obvious umbrella.
IF I am thinking right, Wurzel, this will not be about sports competing against each other for recruits but offering a broad sporting choice for our children and young adults. It could be SL's way of helping to get children off the street corners, being bored, and so on, and instead finding ways to make use of everyone's ever growing leisure time. Perhaps those sports like Boxing are already well organised, I don't know, but the list seems to be growing steadily doesn't it. Yes, and perhaps making Bristol City FC the umbrella under which they all congregate. Not draining the football club of funds but creating a club of which everyone involved becomes so proud.
IMHO Steve Lansdown is looking to support sports in the Bristol area that need help Might see athletics next to be added and think kids who get fit doing one sport might be more inclined to try other sports than those who are sat in front of their Consoles playing FIFA 13 etc, so as runners have moved over into football and rugby why not basketball players?
Answer to the above as well. Basketball is a minority sport with minimal support in the UK. It is a minority support that most will never be able to play physically to any standard. The same cannot be said of countless other better supported sports with long standing footholds in the UK. I would rather see athletics part of a Bristol City sporting organisation, it is inclusive. Interested in the strategy of it, if any. I don't think provsion for the more successful and popular sports in Bristol is joined up, not sure how basketball would improve that.
Perhaps Basketball is a one off and possibly easier to set up a small operation to start with. Athletics would need to be a much larger organisation if it included all the track and field events. Same with Gymnastics. So maybe growing this "organisation" slowly with smaller sports initially, gaining experience before going into athletics, boxing and gymnastics. Softly softly catchee monkey! If we're right in how we are seeing this, it would be wonderful for Bristol and the surrounding areas.
That was how I saw it Bristol Sport as an umbrella organisation slowly gathering diverse sports to it, but back to the main point any sport that gets the kids off the sofa has to be good.
