 This meant EPBL owners and managers made little effort to promote their league (with few ads placed in the media) as they assumed bringing professional American-style basketball would be enough to attract fans.Conversely, the most successful team both on and off the court were the Israel Sabras who had a clear promotional strategy and invested heavily in advertising.Despite economic downturn in the country and competition from popular "amateur" clubs such as Maccabi Tel Aviv the Sabras managed to gain a loyal following, attracting over 3,000 fans per game, far more than the average of 400 for Israeli league games.