There are rumours in the world of netball that New Zealand are readying to end their association with Netball Australia and the trans-Tasman competition.
They are only rumours, but they are strong.
New Zealand netball has a lucrative broadcast deal, while Australia relies on a government grant to cover broadcasting costs.
However Australia has more talented players, some of whom cannot get a start in a top-tier team as spots are taken by New Zealand players and teams.
Netball Australia claim that the relationship between themselves and Netball New Zealand is strong as ever as they move forward with plans to introduce three new Australian teams into the competition from 2017. It has been suggested New Zealand drop a team to accommodate the extra Aussie sides.
However the introduction of new teams will hinge on Netball Australia securing their own broadcasting deal.
Competition expansion is not the worst idea, but it will be a lopsided competition, and New Zealand teams will find it even more difficult to take out the title.
Ultimately, both nations need each other. TV, New Zealand will never evolve without playing against the best players in the world, while Netball Australia can’t reach the maximum audience without New Zealand’s broadcasting rights.
allblackfan
Guest
Wow! A bit staggered to learn SKY NZ is funding the competition. I would assume NNZ has started to reassess the state of play given that NA can't seem to secure a broadcast deal after eight seasons. The urgency has been driven by the NA push for extra teams at the possible expense of a NZ team. That's bad math!
Sam
Guest
Netball NZ should just walk away. Financially it would be better that the money from sky sports nz should be invested into the netball in junior levels so it can create player depth just as strong as Australia. Apparently quote "For the past eight years, New Zealand has been funding Australia’s high-performance programme, with the broadcast revenue from Sky divvied up equally among the franchises to cover the salary cap" "Netball NZ were okay with revenue generated from here propping up the competition because, they reasoned, once the competition had a secure foothold in the Australian market – three years they reckoned – they would stand to cash in. After eight seasons Netball Australia still haven’t managed to secure a paid broadcast deal. In fact, Netball Australia, through the assistance of a government grant, pay the broadcaster’s production costs to ensure coverage."
Jamie
Guest
Its better to go seperate ways but we should only have the best 2-3 clubs from each country competing every 2 years in a smaller tournament. I like the old days where we meet only once or twice a year and each country had its own healthy domestic competition. These days its an over kill. NZ has a much smaller pool of players so it was always going to be difficult to compete with 5 teams. One has to look at the super rugby model. Australia did not boast the player numbers to have 5 competitive teams but with the influx of NZ coaches and players we are seeing Australian teams starting to become more competitive as a whole.
Republican
Guest
Personally I hope NZ do drop out all together as they have usurped a potential Canberra side amongst others while their presence as a sovereign nation in our leagues blurs the boundaries of international rivalry and compromises local domestic grassroots across all our leagues. Contrary to what some seem to believe both sides of the ditch, NZ is not a state of Australia but seem to assume this status with expedient ambiguity.