The Canberra Capitals plan to "capture every minute" of life inside the WNBL hub in a bid to retain a rapidly-increasing fan base during an entire season on the road.
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Club staff have been working overtime to plan events and social media content to keep fans and sponsors engaged with the team based in Queensland for the duration of their campaign.
Every match of the condensed season will be played in Cairns, Townsville and Mackay with the Capitals to launch their bid for a championship three-peat against the Adelaide Lightning on Wednesday.
A season without any home games presents club staff with a huge task to capitalise on a growing fan base which saw them welcome an average of 1389 people to home games last season.
But Capitals general manager Lucille Bailie is confident the franchise can continue to be a "league-leader" in fan engagement after mapping out a raft of ways to engage with the community and strengthen ties with sponsors, with whom they enjoyed a near 100 per cent retention rate.
MORE CAPITALS NEWS
Videographer Lachlan Ross has been sent into the north Queensland hub to capture footage which will take fans inside the bubble in a sign of the club's commitment to building relationships between fans and players even from afar.
"We all know and the Caps regularly talk about the value of the sixth player to the team," Bailie said.
"The sixth player is the members, the sponsors, supporters and community that get behind them. There is a tangible difference to the Caps' performance when there is a vocal and engaged sixth player behind them.
"That's an absolute credit to our members, sponsors, Caps supporters and the community. We've come up with different ways to engage that audience and let the Caps know we're still their sixth player, we still want to be league-leading, but it's going to look a little bit different.
"We've gone heavy on our digital approach because we know our fans spend a lot of time engaging with the team online. We've come up with a couple of new digital assets, 'Behind the Bubble' and 'Recap'.
"We've sent Lachlan Ross into the hub, that's the importance we place on this stuff and providing our sixth player with ways to engage.
"They'll provide potentially more colour and possibly drive a deeper level of engagement with the team. Tolo is from Mackay. Say the team goes to Tolo's for a family dinner, we'll capture that. That would be 'Behind the Bubble'.
"You'll be able to go deeper with the team and really understand what it looks like for them to be in the bubble and in such a different environment. We'll be capturing every minute."
Capitals officials are also planning a series of events for fans and sponsors still in Canberra with the club eager to reward those who have stuck by them during financial hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
First comes a screening at Canberra's Dendy Cinemas of the club's season opener against Adelaide in Mackay on Wednesday night.
Capacity will be limited to about 180 people with corporate partners invited, as well as the first 100 or so people to sign up to a 'Heart of the Capital membership'.
Bailie says the business is on "a massive upward trajectory", with preliminary discussions about further screenings taking place.
"Our corporate family is the cornerstone of our business and servicing our sponsors is really important," Bailie said.
"We've had close to 100 per cent retention of all of our sponsors. Everyone has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and businesses have been incredibly impacted. To retain almost all of our sponsors demonstrates how connected these local businesses are to the team.
"What we both wanted and needed to do was think differently about how to engage with our consumers. The product is world class basketball. The consumers are Caps members, sponsors, and the community."
CANBERRA CAPITALS 2020 FIXTURE
All times in AEDT.
Round one: Wednesday, November 11 - Adelaide Lightning v Canberra Capitals at Mackay Stadium, 6pm.
Round one: Sunday, November 15 - Canberra Capitals v Townsville Fire at Mackay Stadium, 8pm.
Round two: Monday, November 16 - Canberra Capitals v Bendigo Spirit at Mackay Stadium, 6pm.
Round two: Wednesday, November 18 - Melbourne Boomers v Canberra Capitals at Mackay Stadium, 6pm.
Round two: Saturday, November 21 - Sydney Flames v Canberra Capitals at Cairns Pop-Up Arena, 9.30pm
Round three: Monday, November 23 - Southside Flyers v Canberra Capitals at Cairns Pop-Up Arena, 6pm.
Round three: Wednesday, November 25 - Canberra Capitals v Sydney Flames at Cairns Pop-Up Arena, 6pm.
Round three: Thursday, November 26 - Canberra Capitals v Perth Lynx at Cairns Pop-Up Arena, 7pm.
Round three: Saturday, November 28 - Bendigo Spirit v Canberra Capitals at Townsville Stadium, 7.30pm.
Round four: Tuesday, December 1 - Canberra Capitals v Melbourne Boomers at Townsville Stadium, 5pm.
Round four: Friday, December 4 - Canberra Capitals v Adelaide Lightning at Townsville Stadium, 6pm.
Round four: Sunday, December 6 - Townsville Fire v Canberra Capitals at Townsville Stadium, 6pm.
Round five: Thursday, December 10 - Perth Lynx v Canberra Capitals at Townsville Stadium, 7pm.
Round five: Saturday, December 12 - Canberra Capitals v Southside Flyers at Townsville, 5pm.
Caden Helmers
Caden Helmers is a sports journalist for The Canberra Times.
Caden Helmers is a sports journalist for The Canberra Times.
