June 12, 2008

SYDNEY are out and Brisbane are on the brink, but chief executive Chuck Harmison insisted the NBL would still have a strong 2008-09 competition.

The NBL finally terminated the Kings' licence today, the last step in a drawn out saga over late and unpaid player payments.

Harmison said Kings owner Tim Johnston, boss of the controversial fuel technology company Firepower, had failed to pay outstanding money owed to his players by Wednesday's 5pm (EST) deadline on a second consecutive default notice.

The de-licensing coincides with financial difficulties at the Brisbane club, which must find new owners before June 30 or also face the axe from the NBL.

Despite the drama involving two of the league's marquee clubs, Harmison was optimistic the NBL could be successful.

“I have a level of comfort that the Bullets will survive, I've been talking to some people up there, they've told me that there are plans in place that will see them survive,'' Harmison said.

“We will still have a strong competition in 2008-2009 ... it will be world class basketball and the sport will go on.''

Harmison said unless an offer was made on the Kings' licence within the next seven to 10 days, the team would be ruled out of the NBL until at least the 2009-2010 season. He conceded that the chances of an immediate rescue were slim.

“We will not close the door until we've exhausted every option but at this stage, no one has come forward with a viable proposition to operate the Kings.''

The Kings, who won three straight NBL premierships in 2003-05, are believed to have debts of about $1.5 million.

“The league always has been and always will be larger than any one team,'' said Harmison.

“The league could simply no longer tolerate one team letting all the others down, even if that team happened to be the Sydney Kings.''

Crouch Insolvency chartered accountants was appointed official liquidator of the Kings today.

The liquidator will seek expressions of interests for a sale of the residual assets and enter into discussions with the NBL to determine if there is any prospect of resurrecting the team.

It will also undertake investigations into the conduct of Johnston and the company's operations.

Meanwhile NBL great Andrew Gaze believed it was poor management that led to Sydney's demise.

“Without the right model you are always going to be doomed. To say that was indicative of the sport is unfair,'' he said.

Gaze said he was optimistic the league would survive the latest setback.

But he said Basketball Australia and the NBL must unite under the one umbrella in order for the sport to grow in Australia.

“If we can marry up the two - grass roots basketball with the elite level competitions - you give yourself a far better chance of success,'' he said.

“If we've got one organisation governing the sport from top to bottom, then that will alleviate a lot of the problems and help the elite level tap into the grass roots better than it has been done in the past.''