Jerry Richards
Years ago
Prediction on how the sales will go
A prediction. . . .
If you sit back and take a look at what has unfolded, some logic does come to mind.
First point has to be that the government has wiped the debt so therefore will be out to make as much money as possible and unfortunately junior clubs will not see any direct funds due to the good nature of the government as any sales wont even dent what has been lost.
As for speaking about one single buyer I think this thought is way off the pace there are three assets and only two sales will occur!
When talking about the sale of the Dome, strong, positive talk is that new owners would prefer (and I believe this is the governments belief too) to play the team out of the Entertainment Centre. This leaves the Dome a viable development opportunity. After some research I found out that you can build on 2/3 of the land at the current site, this would be plenty to build a nice housing development, therefore I think some one like Gordan Pickard would be interested in the purchase of the Dome, he has previously stated he isn't interested in the team.
As for the Lightning, no one in their right mind would purchase this team even though they are an Adelaide Icon. It just doesn't make business sense, not even in a package deal. Therefore I think the Lightning will continue to be ran by Basketball SA but with strict performance indicators, and then if that doesn't work the team would probably disappear.
Finally for the Sixers sale, a second, different buyer would go after the team. Naturally there will be a lot of interest but I think it will be viewed that selling to a corporation, here or interstate won't be the best option. I haven't heard too much about Belly's group still wanting to purchase but if they were still considering it I think that a group like this would be perfect. From what I understand they have a great deal of financial backing from a local business man, they have a good basketball network with their school clinic work, Academy and basketball special projects, so you would have to think for a group that would keep the team here in Adelaide this group seems to have all bases covered.
As for if the team does get sold and shifted who is to say someone else wouldn't start up a new franchise in Adelaide, basketball and the NBL needs a professional team in this state.
Definitely an interesting few months ahead.
