NBL is ‘still on track’

THE NBL has only played three games since December 27, but league commissioner Jeremy Loeliger is confident the season is on track to finish as scheduled.

Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on the draw, forcing clubs to postpone multiple games to deal with positive tests and close contacts.

Seven teams – Melbourne United, Tasmania JackJumpers, New Zealand Breakers, Illawarra Hawks, Perth Wildcats, Brisbane Bullets and the Cairns Taipans – have been wiped out with positive results.

Other teams have also been impacted as the Omicron variant makes its way across the nation.

As a result, clubs are losing big dollars in revenue as they struggling to sell tickets due to the constant schedule changes.

One club official said he anticipates this year to be a bigger financial burden on clubs than last year, saying he expects clubs to lose millions in revenue dating back to last season.

However, Loeliger (pictured) remains optimistic the NBL can push through the pandemic and finish on time in April. He said the league has no plans for a bubble or playing behind closed doors and is adamant the season won’t continue into June.

“We built contingencies into the fixture to give ourselves plenty of flexibility and enough of a buffer to maintain our planned end date, hopefully regardless of any Covid postponements and delays,” Loeliger said.

“We are still on track to end the season as planned.

“A significant number of our players have had the virus and would have built up some immunity to the current variant, so we have reason to be positive about availability of our players throughout the balance of the season.”

Loeliger said the league has no plans at this stage to assist with any recruiting effort as all teams have done an “exceptional job” working closely with NBL1 clubs in their regions and have players on standby as replacements.

The NBL has also implemented “Covid replacement players”, over and above “nominated injury replacement players”.

“Importantly, unlike injury replacements, Covid replacements may play for multiple NBL teams during the same season,” he said.

Bullets forward Lamar Patterson believes this year’s NBL championship will be heavily influenced by which team is Covid-free at the right time of the year.

“I think it will come down to which team stays the healthiest,” Patterson said. “I’m not talking injuries, but who stays away from Covid.”