Vibrant QBL gives bounce to second-tier goal

THE success of the QBL could soon pave the way to the reinvigoration of a national second-tier competition in light of the NBL’s new involvement with semi-professional basketball.

In February, the NBL revealed their new partnership with Basketball Victoria as naming rights partner for the state’s winter league which has been rebranded from the SEABL to NBL1.

Despite Queensland not being part of the fresh offering, in which every game will be live streamed, Gold Coast Basketball president Joel McInnes believes the partnership will only benefit the game in the long run.

“Anything that raises the profile of basketball is good for the game,” he said. “The NBL has done a great job raising the profile of their own league so for them to use their resources to promote a second-tier league can only be a good thing.”

Though Queensland missed out on being part of the inaugural NBL1 season, McInnes believes the strength of the QBL league could eventually see it integrated into a national competition.

“There’s been discussions about it with Basketball Queensland but there’s nothing concrete as of yet and negotiations are ongoing,” he said.

“Years ago, the winners of the QBL league and SEABL used to play each other which worked really well but then they went away from that.

“There’s definitely that potential for a NBL1 northern, southern and even western leagues with a national finals competition.”

While the NBL naming rights now reside with Basketball Victoria, McInnes doesn’t believe players with hopes of playing in the national professional league will lose any exposure as a result.

“The QBL still has a significant amount of NBL players in it so that won’t be affected at all,” he said.