Tasmania to start 2021-22 NBL season on the road before highly anticipated opening home match

The NBL will grant a request from the league’s newest franchise to start its journey on the road — partly to ensure its home stadium is ready and partly to help build team chemistry

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THE 2021-22 NBL fixture is likely to be unveiled in the next 30 days and the Tasmania JackJumpers have requested to spend up to the first fortnight on the road.

There had been initial plans the league’s newest franchise could open next season at a refurbished MyState Bank Arena if the $41 million upgrade was completed.

However while league boss Larry Kestelman remains confident the stadium will be ready to host games in October, he has revealed the JackJumpers preference is to travel for the first few rounds.

In Hobart as a keynote speaker at the Tasmanian Tourism Investment Luncheon, Kestelman said he expects the first NBL match in southern Tasmania in two decades to be sold out.

“We’ll be looking to release the fixture over the next 30 days, and we’re envisaging on starting somewhere in middle of October,” Kestelman said.

“For JackJumpers, the first game will definitely be played here but I’m envisaging the JackJumpers first going on the road.

NBL boss Larry Kestelman says the 2021-22 season fixture should be unveiled in the next 30 days. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

“That’s something that they’ve asked for, and something we’re happy to accommodate because part of it is to give them a little bit more time for MyState Bank Arena to be finished, but also as a new team, I think the coach and the players actually want a little bit of time on the road to gel before they come to a rowdy home welcome.

“We’ll have to look at the scheduling but I would think a couple of rounds on the road, which might involve 10 or 14 days, would be enough and then they’ll be ready to come home and play in front of the home crowd.

“There’s a lot happening there and I’m very confident we’ll be on time to play basketball, I don’t think it’ll be 100 per cent finished of all aspects of it, but we’ll be bouncing the ball come October.

“I can’t wait to see what that arena looks like and no doubt it will be a sold out game. I’m very confident of that.”

Kestelman also called Dominic Baker’s bluff last week that Cricket Tasmania was not “threatened” by having competition for content.

The BBL has taken centre stage over summer but will now go head-to-head with the NBL.

“If they don’t feel threatened, then they are just silly. I think we will do well, I’m very confident that the venue [MyState Bank Arena] will be sold out.

“We’re not a cricket venue, we’re not a footy venue. It’s a 5000 seat arena so we’re just confident in our business model as to what it is that we do.

The Tasmania JackJumpers mascot and the team will start their NBL journey on the road. Picture: Zak Simmonds

“We know how well we’ve been received and we think our product stands up well.

“I wish cricket all the best, I wish AFL if AFL is going to be here, welcome with open arms, it’s a winter sport so I think we can coexist without a problem.

“But we just concentrate on our proposition, and we think for a 5000 seat venue we have a very, very attractive product, and it’s priced accordingly.”

Like Baker, Kestelman has no doubt both codes can coexist and is willing to work with CT to see how they “we add value to each other”.

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