CROCS LEFT CLUELESS OVER TALK OF CAIRNS NBL TURF TAKEOVER
TOWNSVILLE officials were left in the dark over the prospect of fierce rivals the Taipans taking over their turf in the dying days of the Crocodiles.
As the NBL yesterday stayed quiet on the stunning revelations, former Crocodiles chairman Andrew Gisinger said he was not consulted on the plans to turn the Taipans into the league’s own version of the NRL’s Cowboys.
NBL executives approached Cairns about extending their brand south in a bid to continue elite basketball in Townsville following the Crocs’ demise in April.
The NBL proposal, which came in the dying days of the Crocodiles, would have essentially created a “North Queensland Taipans” team. The idea was floated at Taipans board level but went no further.
Gisinger admits he was left in the dark over the prospect.
“There’s probably some logic in it but it was never, ever something that was promoted to me or discussed with me at any point,” Gisinger said.
“Do I think it would be good to have a North Queensland basketball team? If done right it would be sensational, you’d have a larger supporter base, larger financial reach and you could make it work.
“That said I don’t think it’s feasible in the current market, with the current climate we have in Townsville and it certainly was never something the club was approached about.”
NBL general manager Jeremy Loeliger, who is in China, refused to elaborate on the revelations.
“We don’t have any immediate domestic expansion plans,” he said. “We are in a period of consolidation in Australia and enjoying the wonderful growth, patronage and talent we currently have.
“We would however consider sustainable opportunities for expansion in the future from any city in Australia but we are yet to receive any such proposal.”
Gisinger said a saturation in Townsville’s sporting market precipitated the Crocs’ death following the conclusion of the 2015-16 NBL season.
“There’s a number of problems around this but the fact that originally when the Townsville Suns entered the competition all you had in town was the one team, you didn’t even have Cowboys back then,” he said.
“The Cowboys came and we worked well as a two-team town but then there was the Townsville Fire, the North Queensland Cowboys and from a demographic perspective, that was one of things that always hurt the Crocs.”