Financial problems have seen the Auckland Stars suspended
from this year's National Basketball League (NBL) by the
league's governing body.
On a day when the NBL announced a three-year naming rights
sponsorship with Bartercard understood to be worth more than
$500,000, league chairman Sam Rossiter-Stead had more sombre
news.
"The board is not satisfied that Auckland Stars is a solvent
organisation," he said at the announcement.
The Stars, regularly among the leading NBL sides, is owned by
former Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin and had suffered recent
financial problems.
The franchise reportedly owed money to key player Dillon
Boucher and coach Kenny Stone.
Baldwin, currently coaching in Turkey, had been informed of
the suspension but opted not to comment.
Rossiter-Stead said the Stars' financial woes were
"significant", but was reluctant to comment further. In a
later statement, he said the door was open for them to return
in 2011.
"Throughout the world, organisations that participate in
sports leagues often benefit from the opportunity to stand
back for a period and to re-group and to re-enter the league
reinvigorated," he said.
"The same pattern has been repeated in New Zealand with the
NBL in the past with teams electing to step back from
participation for a year or two and then re-enter into the
league - often with great success.
"Whilst there is a suspension, there is a clear recognition
that Auckland Stars Limited is an organisation that is
expected to field a team in the 2011 (and thereafter) NBL.
"The board will be working with the owners and management of
Auckland Stars Limited to ensure it every success in its
future participation in the league."
The Stars' absence reduces the NBL to a 10-team competition
this year, with Otago and Southland both returning after a
season away.
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