Not to mention the fact Wellington is the Melbourne of NZ, i.e. sports mad. That's the main reason the wellington Phoenix gets average enough crowds and the other a-league team from NZ didnt.

Hang on, Wellington Saints were the same team that just before the EOI briefing a few months back, said they had absolutely no way in the world they could afford the bank guarantee, so much so that they cancelled plans to even attend the EOI briefing in Sydney.
They still don't have the money now, so what made them think they'd get in by being less compliant than the teams BA have already accepted?
What made them even try?

don't shoot me down here but what about the Tassie Devils making a comeback?

Since they can't get an AFL team maybe Tasmania might support basketball...

I wouldn't hold back on NZ, they would have some cash floating around...they own most of the gold coast real estate...

I wouldnt shoot that down Kriss.

Hobart, Canberra, Bris , Sydney, Melb, Newcastle & even NT need to be re-introduced at some stage.

Imagine that!!

Get the model right & slowly build it.....

This is the quote from foxsports:

"A hopeful, left-field bid from New Zealand club Wellington Saints also evaporated on Wednesday.

The club had expressed interest in being part of the competition but their approach was declined in favour of a possible Melbourne side".

It doesn't give much away and I apologise if i read too much into it.

i think what BA are looking at is getting the base model right, then working on expansion from there...2 NZ teams right away would not be seen as best......specially when we need a eastern state capital city involved...

We don't have the depth to have 2 teams out of NZ. A Wellington team would basically just make up the numbers although with both Melbourne teams dissapearing there are now alot of top quality players floating around without a club to play for but you would always hope that the backbone of the team would be made up of local players.

I will shoot you down Kriss. If Sydney and Melbourne cant see the value or cant find the money how are Canberra and Hobart going to? Canberra have struggled since the AIS graduates started going to College instead of staying in Canberra and playing NBL. Plus they had some very good imports over the years. I went to Hobart to watch the 36's play Melb in a game a couple of years ago and the atmosphere was terrible. I also don't know where they would find a business or businessman with enough money.

Paul would you go and see a Dragons Vs Taipans game played in Adelaide for example? What atmosphere would that get at the dome?
Growing up, when the Tassie team was slightly competitve, with Stiff and Donald Whiteside (i think), that atmosphere came across as awesome on tv. Tassie fans must be so frustrated they have no sport to truly get behind, i reckon in this era, theyd be geting along to the games! nd if a Sheikh wants to poor money into a Tassie A-league team, it could just be possible that a NBL team isnt to far away.

Wellington Saints are a very strong franchise..Great crowd averages in the NZBL 2,500 around that mark, which is exceptional for the NZNBL, surely they could attract a few more for a NBL Game.