Elite women's basketball has been in the doldrums for the past few seasons but the latest initiative should get more women on court, Rogers believes.
"Last year we had a [one-off] tournament in Auckland, so this is an expansion of that," he said.
The tournament is a combined effort between Basketball New Zealand and the associations.
Nine teams will compete for the title over three three-day tournaments.
"Obviously, we'd like more than just the three tournaments but, with the current financial climate, it is probably not realistic," Rogers said.
The first leg will be staged in North Harbour from June 18-20.
It moves to Dunedin from July 23-25 and will be completed in Wellington from August 20-22.
Squads from Waikato (two), North Harbour, the New Zealand Academy, Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury and the Otago Gold Rush will contest the inaugural championship.
Teams will be split into two pools at the North Harbour and Dunedin tournaments, gaining championship points depending on their final placings.
Based on those points, teams will split into a championship and a plate section in Wellington.
The championship replaces a conference-based league that was not contested in 2008 because of a lack of entries.
The Breakers have dropped former Tall Black Phill Jones and import Rick Rickert from the Australian NBL beginning in September, NZPA reports.
Jones was cut to allow young Auckland player Tom Abercrombie to develop, while Rickert was released to make room for a big name signing from across the Tasman, coach Andrej Lemanis said.
Breakers general manager Richard Clarke said yesterday the side included five New Zealanders and three Australians, plus two promising young Kiwis to fill the development spots.
Kirk Penney, Dillon Boucher and Paul Henare will be joined by young talents Abercrombie (22), Corey Webster (20) and two additions, Alex Pledger (22) and Jeremiah Trueman (20).
Webster and Pledger are the development players.
Staying on for another season are Australians Tony Ronaldson, CJ Bruton and Oscar Forman who all played integral roles in guiding the club to the semifinal playoffs last season.
The final two positions will be filled by imports, Clarke said.
Kobe Bryant scored 32 points and Derek Fisher made a clutch of late three-pointers to lift the Los Angeles Lakers to a 99-91 overtime victory over Orlando in game four of the NBA finals in Orlando yesterday, AFP reports.
Trevor Ariza and Pau Gasol each added 16 points for the Lakers, now on the brink of winning their 15th championship.
The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can claim the title by winning game five in Orlando tomorrow.
