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Would you like fries with that NBL licence? NBL chief Chuck Harmison said today he wanted to make taking over a team franchise like buying into a McDonald’s restaurant.
Should rugby poach the best young basketballers?
Harmison tried to put a positive spin on the NBL’s new season which starts on September 13 with only 11 teams after the collapse of the Brisbane Bullets and Sydney Kings franchises.
Two last-minute bids to revive the Kings fell over yesterday.
Harmison said he was “reasonably confident” naming rights sponsor Hummer and pay-tv partner Foxtel would sign new commercial partnership agreements for the 2008/09 season.
A revised draw is to be released this month.
“It’s disappointing not to have those two teams,” Harmison told reporters.
“But it’s a fact of life and we’ve got to live with it.
“The teams that are remaining in the league are strong. They’re going to play some great basketball.”
Asked if the league’s product had been devalued, Harmison added: “That’s for our commercial partners to determine.
“Both of those deals (with Hummer and Foxtel) are up for negotiation, so they are new deals,” he said.
Harmison is looking to the Henderson report, a commercial review due to be presented to the NBL shortly, to provide some guidance on how to avoid more teams falling over.
“What I expect to come out of it is … to have criteria set that will allow the teams to be a fighting chance of breaking even or turning a profit,” he said.
“Whether you call it a franchising agreement or a licensing agreement, we need to develop a set of criteria that is going to stop the boom and bust cycle we’ve had over the last 30 years.
“Our sport has seen a number of teams come and go, be successful for a couple of years and then fall over.
“Whether it’s due to mismanagement, or under-management or a lack of resources, we need to get to a stage where we don’t have that any more.
“It’s like buying a McDonald’s franchise. If you do this, this, this and this, you are going to be successful and that’s where we have to get to.
“And then we have to have the discipline to enforce the rules that are put in place.”
Harmison faced a barrage of questions today about whether the league had “blood on its hands” over the plight of unemployed Kings players.
“Well I wouldn’t say we did nothing. We put the Kings organisation into default a number of times,” Harmison said.
“Every time he (Firepower boss and former Kings owner Tim Johnston) would meet it at the 23rd hour.
“We followed our rules as much as we could to ensure players get paid, staff get paid.
“Unfortunately when you are dealing with, as you say, a renegade owner, there is only so much you can do.
“Did we err in giving the licence to him (Johnston) in the first place? I think the answer is yes and we’ll wear that.
“It’s disappointing but it’s something we did and we’ll have to live with it.
“We did change the rules when it became obvious that he was going to play games with us and by then it was too late.”
Struggling former Kings players may be eligible for the NBL’s hardship fund, Harmison said.
“Unfortunately there are casualties,” he said.
“A number of them have got jobs in other teams.
“If they have trouble paying a mortgage or putting food on the table, that’s what the hardship fund is for.”
The league’s top-eight finals format is under review and likely to be reduced.
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