Kiwi-American businessman and lawyer Marc Mitchell last year bought the Auckland-based franchise along with several Kiwi investors and pledged to enhance its ‘‘NZness’’.
For the second year running, Los Angeles-raised Mitchell joined the Far Out convoy of tech investors and venture capitalists who last week again finished their off-road tour in Queenstown.
Now Auckland-based, ‘‘I’ve been coming to NZ for over 20 years because my wife is a citizen,’’ he says.
Asked if the Breakers could play a game in Queenstown, he says ‘‘we are the NZ Breakers, we are not the Auckland Breakers, and it’s always been important to me we represent the whole country’’.
‘‘So we always will be committed to playing regional games throughout the country, and so those will move around year to year.
‘‘Beyond playing the games, what we’re building now is a commitment to doing community outreach and youth outreach throughout the country, and that is 365 days a year, so Queenstown is absolutely a part of that.’’
Mitchell says he’s been coming to Queenstown and Wanaka since 2005, ‘‘so I’ve spent a lot of time here over the years’’.
‘‘Our family, our kids, we’ve skied here, we’ve been here in wintertime, summertime, every version of everything’’.
As to whether he’s bought property here, ‘‘not yet, but we’ll see, we always enjoy our time in this region’’.
