Balancing a growing AIHL: Bannerman

On the eve of the AGM, AIHL commissioner Robert Bannerman has said that there is little more that he could have asked for from the 2014 season. After one of the closest, most unpredictable seasons in the short history of the league, the AIHL has exceeded expectations in many areas, both on and off the ice.

In a season where the league achieved so much as a community, Bannerman said that there was plenty to be proud of from 2014 and the foundations have been set to continue to grow the league in future seasons.

“There’s no doubt the product and fan experience has improved,” Bannerman said. “The players, both locals and imports, are faster, more skilful and games are more competitive than previous seasons. 2014 was filled with highlights, but my top 3 were:

• The competitive balance across the league - Every team had a chance to win in any game.
• Two new teams qualifying for the Finals - Excitement for our league reached an all-time high at the AIHL Finals, with CBR Brave and Melbourne Mustangs competing for the Championship. And you could certainly hear both sets of fans in the Icehouse through the Finals weekend.
• Hearing young kids at our games proclaim, “I want to be like Nathan Walker when I grow up. I want to play in the NHL.” - Nathan’s accomplishments have had a profound impact on awareness of Australian ice hockey and that’s translated into interest for the AIHL; new fans at games, new fans watching our broadcasts and new sponsors expressing support, to name just a few.”

One of the staggering statistics from the 2014 season was the rapid growth of the league’s social media assets, with Facebook especially growing by over 200% year-on-year. With records broken across the competition’s media assets and an increase of 25% in fan attendance, Bannerman said it was incredible to see such growth over one season. 

“However, it will be difficult for the AIHL to continue growing at its current rate,” he continued. “The league, including all eight teams, is developing our strategic plan now. In a month or so, we will have a better view of our objectives, activities, and resources needed to grow. I expect we’ll focus on promoting competitive balance across the league, fan experience, community, culture and financial efficiency. In terms of social media, we’ll focus on better engaging fans, developing and sharing richer content, and providing better access to our stars, coaches, stakeholders, etc.”

While many fans will remember 2014 as the closest in the competition’s history with teams still fighting for finals positions right up to the penultimate weekend of the regular season, there were plenty of highlights. Bannerman singled out the Perth Thunder’s Ric Del Basso and his shootout celebration in the final weekend of the season as a great moment, although maiden championship of the Melbourne Mustangs and the fairy tale season of the CBR Brave also gave the season a special quality that he hopes will continue to grow.

“I expected the CBR Brave to field a competitive team,” Bannerman said. “It was a requirement for their admission to the league. They had a solid core of players to build around. I expected they would recruit firepower to generate goals, and I think their strategy worked.”

“I think we observed greater competitive balance in the AIHL in 2014. All eight teams had a genuine opportunity to qualify for the finals, right through to the end of the season.”

Looking to the future, Bannerman hopes that 2015 will provide “another close competition; tightly contested games, plenty of goals and full stands,” as well as teasing “a few surprises we’ll announce later in the calendar year”. Despite the success of 2014, there is still plenty to be done to ensure the AIHL remains on the right trajectory.

“We want to give our fans the best hockey experience and entertainment possible, and the best opportunities to connect with our game, stars, and community,” Bannerman said. “We’ll be working on:

• Making the game day experience more exciting, including better action on the ice, better music and atmosphere in the rink, better entertainment during intermissions and better promotions.
• Increased media engagement.
• Marketing and promotion to attract new fans.
• People and culture as we have some work ahead to build our world class team, getting the right people in the right roles, recruiting new leaders, developing others and creating learning opportunities.”