Basketball Australia looks at WNBL overhaul

Basketball Australia is undertaking a strategic review of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) with plans to significantly upgrade its operations.

Currently exploring options to shape the strategic direction of the game, Basketball Australia has is currently seeking input from the basketball community on its future, including changes in how the WNBL is run.

In addition, NBL owner Larry Kestelman is currently exploring the possibility of purchasing the WNBL in a move that would unite the sport in Australia.

Basketball is unique among major sports in this country as the elite women’s and men’s domestic leagues, the WNBL and NBL, are owned and operated by separate bodies.

While Kestelman bought the NBL in 2015, Basketball Australia maintains ownership of the WNBL.

The NBL has thrived under Kestelman’s ownership, welcoming more than one million fans to games this season for the first time since 1996.

However, despite the popularity of basketball in Australia, seven of eight WNBL sides operate at a loss.

The WNBL players’ collective bargaining agreement is up for renewal this month and the NBL has indicated its interest in purchasing the league.

NBL Chief Executive David Stevenson, in his first season in the role, recently told AAP “it’s been one of my top priorities since starting in the role to bring the ecosystem of basketball together.

“There are such obvious growth opportunities when we work together. We’ve done a number of things already, Indigenous Round, collectively and that launch.

“We’re working on some new concepts with them that’ll come to fruition in the coming weeks in months.”

Discussions of the sale come as Geelong’s basketball association, Geelong United Basketball, joins forces with a private consortium of investors to purchase the Melbourne Boomers’ WNBL licence -  subject to approval from Basketball Australia.

Under the proposed sale, the franchise would relocate and rebrand as the Geelong United Boomers.

Despite the financial challenges that have gone along with the WNBL, the Geelong buyers are confident they can turn profit from the get-go by following the Townsville Fire’s successful model.

Like the Fire, the Geelong United Boomers would avoid the major costs associated with renting a private stadium by initially playing out of Geelong’s The Arena, a smaller-scale and cheaper venue.

Further down the track, the plan is for the Geelong United Boomers to base themselves at a proposed new venue at Waurn Ponds on the city’s southern outskirts.

Image: Team representatives at the launch of the 2022/2 WNBLL season. Credit: WNBL/Basketball Australia.