Trend-setting Tuatara are schooling the ABL
Australian Baseball League chief executive Cam Vale says the rest of the ABL could learn a lot from the Auckland Tuatara’s incredible season.
After being in existence for just two years, the Tuatara have swelled their crowds from a couple of hundred to 4200 people and have gone from being one of the league’s worst teams to champions of the Northeast Division.
They’ve not only put baseball on the sporting map in New Zealand, but have also shown Australian clubs what can be achieved by following the Tuatara’s blueprint.
‘‘There’s no doubt that there were a few naysayers to begin with, who could say we were helping an international competitor,’’ Vale said of the initial reaction from some Australian clubs to the arrival of the the Tuatara.
‘‘But what everyone has now largely seen is the growth and exposure to the sport here [in New Zealand], the interest that’s created and the benefits that go back to other ABL teams, like the broadcasting of the games.
‘‘Then you also see the crowds and how a rugby stadium is converted into a really good baseball venue.
‘‘Those things show our market that it’s tough, there is a lot of competition from other sports, but there are ways forward.
‘‘We’re not striving to be the next cricket or rugby; we’re trying to find baseball’s niche. And the crowd growth here shows the other teams what’s possible.’’
Aside from Geelong Korea, the other Australian ABL teams don’t get anywhere near the coverage that the Tuatara do, whether that’s having games shown live on television or stories published in the media.
The Tuatara have also been able to do something that other sports have struggled to achieve in New Zealand and Australia, which is to galvanise Asian communities. At Tuatara games there are fans from Korea, Japan and other Asian nations turning up in large numbers.
‘‘There is a great diversity in the crowd and you really see that,’’ Vale said.
‘‘New Zealand and Australia are both multicultural countries, very diverse, and you want to see ethnicity out there, every age group and gender.
‘‘The crowd and the success Auckland has had – those are the examples that other ABL teams can get a lot of inspiration from.
‘‘I must admit, outside the odd operational thing, the other ABL teams have been very complimentary of what Auckland’s doing and can see the real benefit of it. I think there’s a bit of a shock factor with teams thinking this is working quicker than we thought.’’
A radical move the Tuatara tried this season was to make all of their home games seven-inning contests, rather than the traditional nine innings. This was done partly to encourage Sky TV to broadcast the games, but also to make the games more interesting to an audience learning about the sport.
Stuff understands Australian clubs are now looking at a switch to seven-inning contests.
‘‘It was something we’d been in discussions with Auckland about and it’s definitely created a bit a of controversy,’’ Vale said.
‘‘I know a lot of baseball fans in Australia are not super excited by it. But at the end of the day, while baseball is a great game, we’ve got to grow it to non baseball people, to all sports fans.
‘‘Whether it’s seven innings or other tweaks or changes that highlight the really good parts of the game and can bring more people along, we have to look at [it]. So for next year, this will be a great chance for us to reflect on what’s worked with it, to get the feedback from Sky TV and Auckland.
‘‘It’s not like we’ve put a cricket pitch out there and totally changed the game.
‘‘It’s a modification driven for the right reasons.
‘‘We want this on TV, we want to get that exposure and I think it’s helped significantly.
‘‘Whether its TV, radio or print, the coverage Auckland are getting is significant and five or six Australian-based clubs would probably be very keen for that at the moment.
‘‘But we’ve got to work through whether a league like ours is going to have so much variety between teams that play four nine-innings games, teams that play four seven-innings games and then teams that play both.
‘‘That will be a key part of the post-season review. But from what I’ve seen, it’s certainly been successful and we’ve got to consider whether it’s something that expands across the league, or if we want everyone back to nine innings.’’