The Otago Nuggets appear destined to spend at least another year on the sideline.
The National Basketball League will hold a strategic and planning meeting on September 26 to fix the format for next season and issue the playing licences.
Those licences are expected to be for five years. NBL chairman Sam Rossiter Stead said there ''may be a way back in'' for the Nuggets if they cannot get organised in time. However, the franchise would need to present a robust business plan.
''Basically, we are in the process now of looking for expressions of interest,'' he said.
''But to move outside of our current teams, there would need to be a very compelling case.
''Everyone wants the Nuggets back in. It is just a case of when.''
The Nuggets pulled out of the league in 2009 and again last year when Basketball Otago (BBO) faced insolvency.
BBO ceased trading in October having accumulated a debt of just under $179,000. Liquidation appeared likely but the community rallied and an agreement to pay creditors 30c in the dollar was reached in May.
The Nuggets are back on the agenda and a group led by BBO board member Craig Hickford has been looking into the feasibility of entering the franchise in the league next season.
''One of the key points is we can't do it unless it is sustainable,'' Hickford said.
''We don't want to put [grassroots basketball] in danger ... and we are exploring how that might work at the moment.''
The consensus is the Nuggets will need to be split off from BBO but will still need to retain close ties to basketball in Otago.
Hickford, who played in the NBL from 1989 to 2000 and has coached various Canterbury teams during a long involvement in the sport, was aware of the impending deadline but would not be drawn on whether next season was too soon or not.
''I'm not prepared to say at the moment,'' he said.
''We are putting together a proposal to go to BBO. BBO are in the process of putting together a strategic plan and it has to be built into that.''
Hickford said the group had been working on the feasibility study for the past month and it would be completed in the next couple of weeks.
Hickford declined to comment on how much it would cost to run the Nuggets. However, in a submission to the Dunedin City Council in May last year, BBO estimated the Nuggets' operating budget at $335,500.
