WNBL owners set for crisis talks with Basketball Australia

WNBL club owners will meet Basketball Australia for 11th-hour crisis talks after a second deadline to sign revamped license agreements with the league’s new ownership consortium lapsed.

Some current WNBL club owners will meet Basketball Australia for 11th-hour crisis talks after a second deadline to sign revamped license agreements with the league’s new ownership consortium lapsed.

Clubs were initially given a March 24 cut-off date to agree to terms set out by the coalition of Tesla chief executive Robyn Denholm’s Wollemi Capital, the NBL and Basketball Australia. After some clubs expressed concerns over the new agreements, that deadline was extended to 5pm on Friday.

Multiple sources told Code Sports a number chose not to lock into the new agreement by the deadline and one said there is a real chance some owners would choose not to be involved in the new league.

All have gone to ground, either refusing to comment to Code Sports’ questions or ignoring them, amid last ditch efforts planned for Monday and Tuesday to smooth the path into the new league.

Bendigo Spirit won the WNBL championship in March, but will they return next season? Picture: Getty Images

In a complex situation, current agreements are held between each club and BA. Given the sport’s national peak body remains a minority owner of the new entity, some clubs privately hold hope their reluctance to sign the new agreements would curtail Wednesday’s official league takeover.

Details of the sale agreement between BA and the new ownership have been closely guarded. Sources told Code Sports the new entity had reinforced to clubs on multiple occasions there was a place for them in its new league but, regardless, it would forge ahead — with or without them.

Its understood clubs will have further opportunity to seal their place in the new WNBL on Monday, while officials from a number of teams have meetings scheduled with BA on Tuesday.

Robyn Denholm says the new ownership group wanted to establish the WNBL as a global leader in women’s sport. Picture: Getty Images for WNBL

Some club sources spoke on condition of anonymity, expressing concerns about conditions in the agreement, including:

-requirement to cede advertising control of some court and LED signage and how that could impact sponsorship dollar.

-requirement to hand over some elements of intellectual property — team name, colours, logos — to the league.

-cost of meeting a lift in minimum standards to ensure courts were operated and presented at a level fit for professional sport and broadcast.

-the level of funding, understood to be around $300,000, the league would grant to each club

The new league wants to dramatically improve court presentation and broadcast quality, particularly given the abysmal product served up under BA’s last season as sole operator, where there were times it was impossible to tell which individual players were even on the court.

Alicia Froling and the Fire fell to the Spirit in the championship decider. Picture: Getty Images

The WNBL has floundered under the current regime, a once proud league now almost invisible to Australia’s sporting psyche, with some clubs losing as much as $950,000 per year as players operated under substandard conditions and wages and many talented Aussies deserted.

Denholm said the new ownership group wanted to establish the WNBL as a global leader in women’s sport.

“Our commitment to women’s basketball in Australia is unwavering,” Denholm said.

“We’re providing unprecedented financial support and investment to the clubs and players.

“This marks a significant step forward in elevating the women’s game in Australia.”

After years of agitating for change, all current club owners now sit at the precipice of a new dawn.

How many take what some are calling a leap of faith, remains to be seen.

Originally published as WNBL owners set for crisis talks with Basketball Australia