The Southland Basketball Association has plenty of work ahead of it but it is serious about establishing a National Basketball League franchise in Invercargill, chairwoman Jill Bolger says.
The SBA board this week agreed to start gathering the relevant information for the bid.
"Clearly there is a whole lot of work for us to do," Bolger said, adding it "is very early days".
"But to say we are serious about a bid would be fair comment."
The first step is to wait for the findings of Basketball New Zealand's (BBNZ) review of the NBL, due at the end of July.
The NBL has 10 teams but with some franchises struggling financially, critics have suggested the league be cut to eight.
BBNZ chief executive Dale Stephens told the Otago Daily Times earlier this month there were no concrete plans to contract or expand the league.
However, he acknowledged the review's mandate included investigating the viability of the 10 existing franchises.
Southland's emergence must place some strain on the Otago Nuggets, who have finished last in the league for the past four seasons.
When asked whether the league could support two franchises in the lower South Island, Basketball Otago chief executive Mark Rogers said it was "something the NBL board will have to decide".
He remains optimistic the Nuggets will still be around when the NBL tips off in 2009.
The earliest a team from Southland could enter the league, Bolger said, would be 2010.
Following the review, the association planned to get a working party together to meet BBNZ and some of the other franchises in the league.
"We've got to talk with other franchises and find out the pitfalls, and we have to find out how much money we would need to run a good franchise," she said.
It is estimated the board would need about $400,000 annually to support a competitive team.
Bolger was confident about securing the funds.
"We know we've got community funds down here. They've [the Invercargill Licensing Trust and the Community Trust] got a big buy-in with the Steel, with Rugby Southland and there is room for us as well."
In 2004 some Southland businessmen tried to get a second division team together with a view to entering the NBL, but the bid fell over when they failed to secure the required financial backing.
