"the BA Board could not ultimately be confident that the club had sufficient financial arrangements in place to ensure its medium to long term sustainability"

If true regarding sustainability issues: good call BA.

Of course there would be no medium to long term sustainability. The Tigers barely get a crowd as it is. Having another Melbourne team only dilutes the small fan base they have. The NBL needs to focus on its current teams and increasing their sustainability, because right now, with the exception of Perth, all the clubs are struggling with crowds and struggling financially.

^ Breakers aren't struggling with shit

Ok, so Perth and NZ are fine. The rest are struggling mightily.

Chewy that's not true regarding diluting the fanbase. The tigers are a junior club as well so battle lines have been drawn early on regarding allegiances with the club. That's why a second Melbourne club makes a semblance of sense.

Chewy, Cairns turned a profit. Wollongong seem to be OK.

And as others have said, the Tigers are like having a Sturt or Forestville in Adelaide playing NBL - leaves a lot of other fans.

So if a second Melbourne team has been rejected, does that improve the chances of a Brisbane or Newcastle joining the NBL or does it make their job harder knowing that the league isn't about to let just anyone in?

Good call by BA as the last thing this league needs is a two or three year club that falls over just vas it build momentum as it would be the beginning of the end for the league!

Expansion for expansions sake isn't the right move for the league and basketball in this country.

Love to see Brissy get back in but not if all the ducks aren’t in a row.

A great call from BA. The last thing Victorian basketball needs is another NBL franchise falling over.

I have concerns over another NBL franchise in Melbourne working. If the Titans couldn't work, with Goorjian at the helm, plenty of marquee players, the Giants money, and the Magic supporter base, I'm not so sure another team is going to make things happen.

Everyone talks about Melbourne basketball supporters not wanting to support the Tigers because of their junior association, is the same thing going to apply to the new team (to a smaller exent) if the new team is based out of the State Basketball Centre at Knox? Whilst Knox Association might not have a financial interest in the team directly, by hosting the games they will be receiving revenue via rental income. I'm not sure how well this will sit with staunch Kilsyth, Dandenong, Nunawading, Frankston, Eltham members/supporters over the long run.

Newcastle have zero chance of getting a NBL team in the near future. As mentioned, the local savior is in a tonne of financial hurt at the moment, and unless he pulls another coal mine from the backside, will remain in hurt for a while yet.

Brisbane surely is next, especially as the Blaze blew up, leaving the southern area's of QLD void of any NBL.

I'd love another Canberra team, just not the corporate money here to sustain a viable, long term future.

Triple the Tigers supporters? Tigers are getting 4-6k at their Hisense games and the second melb team wanted to play in the 3000 seat State Centre.

So, stadiums are the issue are they? What comes first, the egg or the chook?

Do we put on a show?
Do we play in bigger stadiums?
Do we have local derbys and build rivalry among the fans?

What is it that the NBL needs to do to get this game moving forward..?

Of course, if it is not financially viable, there should not be any expansion teams, at all! But maybe then the NBL needs to look at it's structure and elegibility criteria, or maybe work out how clubs can retain more revenue to get them above the water line??

I still remember the good old days (South Dragons), and that was not so long ago.......

i wouldnt rate canberra such a long shot, the city used to be a shit hole (and sort of still is) but its grown a lot and changed in the last 5 - 10 years. plus theyve got no major sports team in the summer.

at least 1 more team is needed to cater for the australian talent we have.

The Dragons trotted out that line as nothing more than a cop out. They were losing bucket loads of cash, and of the two owners, one wanted to continue but couldn't sustain the losses by himself.

Vart that is complete rubbish. The Dragons had reduced (albeit slightly) their losses in their 3 years. The Dragons also had offered the NBL execs to meet with reps from VISY about a major league sponsorship, the league never even returned their call.
If the league had shown it was heading in the right direction at the time and came through with some of the things they promised the clubs the Dragons would still be around.
With that though good job on the league not letting the smoke and mirrors excuse for a second Melbourne team come into the league with next to no money behind it.

Isaac, allegedly Cairn's profit was 10k. Razor thin and very easily could become a 200k loss and where are they then given their "community" model?

Wollongong seem stable, but 36ers, Townsville, Melbourne and Sydney are all reportedly losing money, and some of those heavily.

And even Wollongong being stable is not good news. They are not investing in their market, just subsisting as far as anyone can tell.

Only one club has anything like the structure (programs, facilities, etc) that you would want in a pro-sports league, and that is NZ.

One of the core problems is that the league cannot pay its best potential athletes enough to either a) keep them here or b) keep them from other sports.

Even if they could pay a kid enough, then when he/she compares the infrastructure of the competitor club (AFL) then there is just no comparison.

The Dragons can blame the NBL as much as they want but the other clubs had input in to the way the league was moving forward. It was only them and the Tigers that decided the "spend big" option was the way to go, so they both pulled out when they didn't get their way. Every other club said it was time to reign the spending in.

Funny that they are willing to blame the management of the league, while participating in ruining it at the same time.

Well said The Situation.

In some respects, regardless of what actually happened with the Dragons, the NBL are partially to blame for their demise. Setting up a new club with only two owners is a recipe for disaster long term.

The problem with Melbourne's NBL franchises since 1992 has been the cost of venue hire.

If all Melbourne clubs could turn back the clock, I guarantee they would have all stayed put at the Glasshouse.

BA simply dont want to admit that Tigers are the most hated club, aside from Collingwood, in Victorian sport.

I'm pretty sure everything gets spent at Atlas place but that is why they have Sponsors. They have an extensive junior academy which cannot be cheap to run. Thanks also to Melbourne for the Corletto's as Julie has been running netball clinics during school holidays at the Breaker facilities for young kids.

So the Knox nbl team were told they were the preferred bidder last season and had 12 months to get their finances together and still couldn't? Good on the NBL for not accepting them. Considering a good portion of the bid group came from another former failed Melbourne team the NBL definitely did the right thing here.
Considering the rumors on Larry gettin sacked for giving this group preferential treatment in their bid, if that was indeed true wonder how he is feeling today?

I would have thought Larry would have been more helpful to the Brisbane bid last year?

It was alleged that as Larry is mates with the people behind the Melbourne bid, and gave their bid preferential treatment it was one of the reasons BA went in a "different direction" to him as CEO.
Doubt that was true but if it was things have not ended well for them.

Isaac, Blackwell doesn't exactly use the Breakers for financial gain. I don't think he would be too fussed about profit. He is just a major hoops fan.

He actually owns the biggest and busiest supermarket in New Zealand (Pak N Save Albany), so its safe to say hes making a fair bit of coin from that venture as opposed to the Breakers.

So a Tigers NBL team is no good because it is seen as part of the junior club and the junior rivalrys kick in.

Another NBL team based out of the State Basketball Center would be seen as Knox aligned so we can't have that either.

So not quite sure what everyone is suggesting as the best ownership model for an NBL team(s) in Melbourne ???

MACDUB, I know, my point is that the success of the club hinges on that operation, just as Brisbane (and Adelaide at a point) relied on Groves' position rather than on the financial success of the team itself.

the new nbl team has been rumoured as bringing an opportunity to get rid of some of knoxs alledged financial pressures???? Hope this isnt true, or it only makes things worse for them ....

The NBL cannot worry about new teams at the moment they need to change the frequency of games to more often, put together more broadcasting deals with tv companies. They rely to heavily on crowds for their main source of income. NBL rarely sells any merchandise at all, the NBA is profitable for a reason, we need to introduce some of the things they have incorporated to gain consumer interest and raise revenue.

The A-League has taken a massive turnaround over the last 2/3 years, but they sell a lot of merchandise. So much opportunity with the NBL. If only I had the funds.