Super Netball\u2019s expansion freeze has handed the WNBL a chance to plant its flag in a key market<\/p>\n
The WNBL want to expand into Newcastle and have plans to sneak under the guard of cash-strapped Super Netball who have told Wests Group they must wait to get a licence, writes Matt Logue from CODE Sports.<\/p>\n
The prospect of a new women\u2019s professional sporting team in Newcastle has increased after the NSW State Government injected $14 million into the planning stage for a state-of-the-art 12,000 seat indoor facility.<\/a><\/p>\n The Wests Group \u2013 who own the NRL and NRLW Knights \u2013 last year made an expression of interest for a new Super Netball franchise<\/a>. This could open the door for the WNBL to swoop \u2013 with its new Chief Operating Officer Justin Nelson keen to speak to the Wests Group about potential expansion.<\/p>\n \u201cI would strongly encourage the people behind the growth of basketball and the business of sport in Newcastle to come and have a chat with us,\u201d Nelson told CODE Sports.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would welcome the opportunity to have a chat with them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt (Newcastle) is a wonderful part of the country and they are incredibly passionate sports fans. They would naturally build a strong rivalry with the Big Smoke \u2013 so to speak \u2013 so I think the opportunity is there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of great basketballers come from Newcastle over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cIs there a future of a WNBL side in Newcastle \u2013 I would say yes because we need to continue to explore every opportunity for the league to be in the hearts and minds of as any people in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n Momentum is also building for an NBL franchise returning to Newcastle<\/a> in the future.<\/p>\n For the full story on\u00a0CODE\u00a0Sports Basketball<\/a>, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Super Netball\u2019s expansion freeze has handed the WNBL a chance to plant its flag in a key market…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-867377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867377","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=867377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Wests\u2019 bid has since hit a snag after Netball Australia put Super Netball\u2019s planned expansion on hold until 2028<\/a> at the earliest, delaying potential new team entry.<\/p>\n