{"id":666839,"date":"2026-05-12T21:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/666839\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T21:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:49:13","slug":"how-melbourne-uniteds-new-multi-millionaire-owners-travis-knipe-and-aaron-sansoni-will-court-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/666839\/","title":{"rendered":"How Melbourne United\u2019s new multi-millionaire owners Travis Knipe and Aaron Sansoni will court success"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JonSave<\/p>\n

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Melbourne United\u2019s new multimillionaire owners have backed the governance and leadership of National Basketball League boss Larry Kestelman, declaring the burgeoning competition is on the right trajectory.<\/p>\n

Businessmen and entrepreneurs Travis Knipe and Aaron Sansoni have taken full ownership of the marquee NBL club, Knipe lifting his stake from 30 per cent to 75 per cent, while Sansoni has the remaining share, having acquired this from Kestelman, the league\u2019s majority owner and former United owner, last year.<\/p>\n

\"OurOur town: Melbourne United owners Travis Knipe and Aaron Sansoni have big plans for the glamour NBL club.Chris Hopkins<\/p>\n

From a group of more than a dozen owners, United now have a consolidated core, which Knipe and Sansoni say will help the club continue to expand.<\/p>\n

The ownership consolidation comes at a time when the owners of the Illawarra Hawks, South East Melbourne Phoenix and Perth Wildcats have expressed governance issues over Kestelman\u2019s running of the league<\/a>, despite a Basketball Australia investigation finding there was no \u201ccredible\u201d evidence Kestelman had breached the NBL\u2019s code of conduct.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

In a wide-ranging interview with this masthead, Knipe and Sansoni, long-time NBL fans, said they endorsed Kestelman, and were committed to the club, and league, for the long haul.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had any reservations with where I thought the NBL was, or Melbourne United was, I wouldn\u2019t have invested 75 per cent at a record valuation. So, from my perspective, I think the league is in a great place again,\u201d said Knipe, the executive chairman and former chief executive of StarRez, a global property technology and educational technology company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think each club is on their own journey and has a different philosophy in terms of owners and what their expectations are \u2013 if they need to be [making a financial] return in a given year, or they are looking at this capital [wise].\u201d<\/p>\n

Knipe\u2019s initial 30 per cent share acquisition last year lifted the club\u2019s estimated valuation up to $50 million dollars, a record figure for an Australian-based basketball club.<\/p>\n

Sansoni, an investor, entrepreneur and founder of nearly 80 companies, said the NBL was a \u201crocket ship\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited for where this league is going to go. We\u2019re excited to be playing more game. We\u2019re excited for having more teams, we\u2019re excited to be doing more,\u201d Sansoni said.<\/p>\n

The search for a new coach<\/p>\n

Two-time United championship coach Dean Vickerman last week enacted an out-clause in his contract to explore opportunities in Japan and China.<\/p>\n

Vickerman will be a tough act to follow, but there is no shortage of applicants. Although the Adelaide 36ers \u2013 another power club \u2013 are also pursuing a new coach after Mike Wells\u2019 abrupt departure.<\/p>\n

Five-time Perth Wildcats championship coach Trevor Gleeson is firmly on United\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re talented, if they\u2019re interested \u2013 we\u2019re trying to run quite a wide process,\u201d Sansoni said, adding the club had a \u201cmassive\u201d initial list of prospective candidates.<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Ingles (left), the Minnesota Timberwolves and Boomers forward, is closing in on a deal with Melbourne United.Getty ImagesThe favourite son<\/p>\n

United are in deep discussions with Joe Ingles, a four-time Olympian, Boomers great and NBA veteran, about finishing his career in Melbourne next season. A deal is expected to be announced after Ingles\u2019 play-off run with the Minnesota Timberwolves ends.<\/p>\n

Ingles has long made it known he would like to finish his professional career in Melbourne, having begun with the now-defunct NBL championship side South Dragons in 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, we\u2019ll be very blessed if we can pull off signings like that. You know, we\u2019re excited,\u201d Sansoni said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo \u2026 we\u2019re open, we\u2019re trying to get the right players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having a WNBL franchise<\/p>\n

The premier women\u2019s basketball competition in Australia does not have a Melbourne-based figurehead club, with Southside based at the State Basketball Centre in Knox, while the Geelong Venom have made a recent recruiting splash in free agency.<\/p>\n

Sansoni said the WNBA in the US was \u201cdoing so well globally \u2013 it\u2019ll be hard at some point not to have a look at those factors\u201d. He stressed timing would be important if United was to head in the WNBL direction.<\/p>\n

\"MainMain man: Melbourne United skipper Chris Goulding has been the heartbeat of the franchise for a decade.Getty ImagesWhat next for Chris Goulding?<\/p>\n

United\u2019s franchise man since 2015-16, star shooter Chris Goulding, will be 38 in October. The two-time United championship marksman is coming off an injury-impacted season where he averaged only 13.4 points, and United \u2013 having let slip a 9-0 start to the season \u2013 were eliminated in the play-in game.<\/p>\n

Knipe said Goulding, already back in training, could play as long as he wanted.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Sandy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll honour himself \u2026 he definitely doesn\u2019t look like a guy that\u2019s slowing down for retirement. And I was excited to watch him last season. He\u2019s pumped about some of the changes that are coming … but he\u2019ll be able to play as long as he wants. He\u2019s such a great player,\u201d Sansoni said.<\/p>\n

Knipe said Goulding had a key role in the \u201conboarding\u201d of a new coach.<\/p>\n

A home base in Sandringham<\/p>\n

United once explored a shift to the Courtside venue in Port Melbourne, but opted to stay at Hoops City in Cheltenham.<\/p>\n

Sansoni said United were keen to upgrade their facilities, while they are also trying \u201cto cook on some long-term plans\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be cool for us to have our own big stadium, like they have in the NBA, at some point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"JonJon Pierik<\/a> is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-666839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}