What Could Be….
OMT and the IBL should look very seriously at locating the team overseas (which I’ve stated before). As a member of OMT, I would certainly plan my vacation time around the IBL season (and I’m sure many members would do the same). Personally I would much rather enjoy Reykjavik or the beaches of Ensenda to Point Place, Wisconsin (insert That 70s Show joke here.). I listed Point Place with the idea of not offending anyone, but Arlen, Texas works as well (insert King of the Hill joke here).
I’ve been trying to research Reykjavik, but I can’t locate any solid capacity figures for indoor sports venues. If any of you out there have this information, then please email OMT about it (so I can report it). From my research (and the pictures I’ve found), I would guess that the largest options available would be in the 2500 to 3500 range. I will admit that those figures are a little disapointing, but if OMT drew 2500 fans per game that would lead the league in attendance (slightly above Elkhart, Indiana).
With a strong focus on season ticket and sponsorship sales OMT could also lead the league in revenues (two very important non-basketball stats). I’ve actually suggested selling shares on Ebay, and I’d eventually like to see sponsorship packages go up on Ebay as well. I’m not an Ebay expert, but I’d like to find out how feasible this idea would be.
Now what could be? After a successful IBL season in Iceland I would suspect that fans would expect change. Currently there are 12 first league teams and 10 second league teams in Iceland. I will report that most of these teams (especially the smaller ones) do not break even. Many international teams have a problem with this, but the point for many of these teams is to develop talent (like at the high school or JC level here in the USA). After a taste of quality professional basketball, the country might be willing to relax their rules on franchises. If they did this, then I would encourage OMT to purchase or start an expansion team in the Iceland Express League. Currently, teams in Iceland are only allowed two import players, and because of this the league is very weak. The league should allow four import players and four bosman players. Then the remaining four spots could be allocated to Icelandic players. Iceland as a country obviously wants to see players from their country, and that is why they have made these rules. If they ever want to compete, then these rules must be changed.
The Express League needs to consider reducing the amount of teams in the league from 12 to 8. The remaining 4 should be dropped into the second tier league. Keeping the franchises that are financially the strongest will make for a better league (along with the rule changes). Eventually Iceland would also need to build larger indoor venues as well (assuming they don’t already have a few I don’t know about). Ideally OMT could work with Reykjavik to build a 4000 or 5000 seat field house. A venue of this size would be large enough to support a winter team in the Express League and a spring team in the IBL. This could mean Iceland finally does well in ULEB Cup or EuroCup competition in future years.
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