NBL CEO: The biggest challenge facing NBL expansion

NBL CEO David Stevenson has revealed the three things that the competition is looking for when analysing any potential expansion bid into the 10-team competition.

Since Larry Kestleman purchased a majority stake in the league back in 2015, the league has gone from strength to strength, having increased in almost every metric.

This growth has seen the competition add two teams in the South East Melbourne Phoenix and the Tasmanian JackJumpers.

With the league’s rising popularity, there has been continued interest in expansion, with the Gold Coast and Canberra leading the way as potential new entrants.

When asked by Josh Jenkins about what the competition is looking for when it does expand, Stevenson admitted that they are looking at fan & corporate interest alongside increased venue sizes to accommodate the demand the league is producing.

“We don’t want to expand for expansion’s sake,” he told SEN’s Straight Shooter.

“We want the new team to come in and be strong and be an additive to the league rather than diluting.

“I think the model that set us a great benchmark has been the JackJumpers.

“Think about every single game that they have ever played (has) sold out; they are making an incredible impact in the community. They’ve got a waiting list of members who are desperate to go. They are profitable, they’ve made the finals every year bar one and won a title.

“So if we can do that with new teams coming in, then that’s a success.

“There are really three things that are important. One is, do we have enough interest from fans?

“That’s why we take things like the Blitz (pre-season tournament) to those markets to test (it) out. We did that in the Gold Coast and Canberra to see if there is enough fan interest.

“Secondly, we want to see corporate interest. Because sponsorship and hospitality is pretty important to the P&Ls (Profit and Loss) of those clubs. So, we work really closely to help those clubs get a step up.

“And then thirdly, and frankly, the biggest challenge we’ve got is venues. I think now we had 55 games sold out last year. We can’t play in the 4,000-seat venues anymore.

“We’ve got to be able to (start) thinking about 8,000, 10,000, 12,000 (seat venues) as a minimum.

“That has frankly been the biggest challenge as we look to expand, as we haven't had a venue big enough.

“Now, the three (expansion bids) that we are spending a fair bit of time on, Gold Coast, it looks like there is some good progress on a new venue that might be 10-12,000.

“Canberra have been on public record around building potentially a new convention centre that might be 8,000+, and Sydney would be another market that we would love to put a second team, but there is no venue downtown.

“But they have started a process on Moore Park in the entertainment quarter. So, that's at the moment the biggest prevention for us to put new teams in is getting the right venue."

To hear the full chat with Stevenson, press the play button below.