Basketball: Nuggets still in limbo

Mark Rogers
Mark Rogers
The future of the Otago Nuggets remains in the balance, Basketball Otago chief executive Mark Rogers said yesterday.

The franchise has been eagerly awaiting the outcome of a Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) review of the National Basketball League (NBL) before committing to the 2009 season.

The review looked into the governance of the league, operations, marketing and communications, and found that governance was a key issue which needed to be resolved.

BBNZ chief executive Dale Stephens said governance had been a keenly debated issue, with teams previously unrepresented on the controlling board.

Under the review recommendations, the franchises would take control of the league with three representatives on a newly constituted six-person board.

They would also nominate an additional independent member.

BBNZ would continue to hold the league licence but would have one representative and nominate one independent member.

"After considering all of the information supplied, discussing the history of the NBL with various stakeholders, and analysing the current situation with the league and its relationship with BBNZ, the best approach is to deal with the governance issue first and then prioritise the rest of the review results next," Stephens said in a press release.

The 10 NBL franchises will meet to consider the proposed structure in Auckland today.

Rogers said until the organisation knew what the structure would be for next season, the Nuggets were in a state of limbo.

"Obviously, there will be something which will come out of the meeting, which will hopefully give us more clarity with where we are heading with the Nuggets," he said.

However, Rogers said having control of the league was not something the Nuggets had been pushing for.

With seven of the 10 NBL franchises based in the North Island, issues such as travel and talent-equalisation could get overlooked.

"That's why you need to have people on the board that are there for the right reasons and for the betterment of the entire league.

"The new structure allows for more synergy between grassroots basketball and the NBL. I think the links will be stronger than they have been and, obviously, we hope, if the structure is agreed to, that the people representing the franchises will be representative of all the franchises instead of individual interests."

The review process has dragged out since the NBL season ended in June and Rogers said he was keen for it to be resolved.

"The sooner the better from our point of view. Having said that, we want it done properly as well.

"We need to know what we are asked to commit to before we can commit."

 

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