The NBL’s chief executive officer says there are several ways a big league team could be set up in Geelong

The chief executive officer of Australian basketball’s premier competition has revealed the must-haves if Geelong goes looking for a big league comeback.

A potential new NBL team in the region could be sourced from other areas aside from Geelong United Basketball, the league’s new chief executive officer says.

The league has flagged its interest in bringing a Geelong team back to the big league, but an adequate venue remains a major stumbling block.

The Geelong Supercats exited the NBL after the 1996 season but GUB – a partnership between Geelong Basketball and Corio Bay Stingrays – was founded four years ago and currently fields a men’s and women’s team in NBL1 South.

The GUB has grown into one of the country’s largest basketball associations, pushing towards 1000 community teams and more than 500 pathways players.

However, Western Bulldogs chief executive David Stevenson, who began in his new NBL role earlier this month, said the league was looking at “multiple cities in multiple states”, plus in New Zealand and Asia, for new franchises with scope to introduce several teams in the future.

NBL chief executive officer David Stevenson said the league is having multiple conversations in multiple states. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images.

He pointed to the recent examples of the privately-owned South East Melbourne Phoenix and the Tasmanian JackJumpers, partially owned by the league, as great recent “success stories”.

Tennis star Nick Kyrgios is a part owner of the Phoenix while former Boomer and NBA player Andrew Bogut has bought into the Sydney Kings.

Stevenson stressed it was “too early to speculate” where a new team could be potentially generated from in the Geelong region.

“We’ve seen multiple different models be successful around the NBL,” he said.

“We look forward to talking to the Geelong United Basketball community.”

Stevenson said a new franchise would need three key things to be successful: support from fans, the commercial sector and local and state government — especially the latter when it came to an appropriate venue.

Stevenson said Geelong did not currently have an adequate facility for big league basketball. Picture: File.

He said the right venue in Geelong would require “multiple dimensions”, catering for the “fan experience”, adequate seating, corporate facilities and the right capacity to support an overall economic model, with the potential to be used for other events and sports.

“That’s the challenge we’ve got with the Geelong opportunity at the moment,” he said.

“We just don’t have a venue that’s ready to cater to the high expectations our fans have about attending an NBL game.

“It can be used for other things like concerts … which helps drive the financial model of the stadium.

“And what’s right for the community (is important).

“We’re having good conversations with the council about what that may look like in the future.”

Several Geelong Supercats in March, 1996 about to catch a train to Mildura for a pre-season match. Picture: File.

He said there had been an “inspiring” level of basketball growth in the Geelong region in recent years, and it has “confidence in the fans” they would back an NBL team.

“The level of interest (in the NBL) ... is very high,” Stevenson said.

“We would have confidence the Geelong community would embrace a team, like they did previously.

“And like we’ve seen in other sports.

“The fans are demanding their own team, we love that.”

He also had confidence in private sector support.

“We’d like to think as a strong, summer option, particularly focused on family and the community, we’d be a compelling proposition for those Geelong businesses to support,” he said.

“As we work to evaluate this opportunity, we want to meet and discuss with all local community groups.”

Stevenson was adamant a league reintroduction would be timely, with interest in the NBL hitting new heights.

“The interest level in an NBL team has been higher than we’ve ever had before,” he said.

“We’re having lots of conversations with multiple cities in multiple states.

“There’s an opportunity for multiple teams to enter the league in the future.”

Originally published as The NBL’s chief executive officer says there are several ways a big league team could be set up in Geelong