New NBL boss keeps ball rolling for mentor
Huw Beynon never figured on a career running a professional sports league until a diminutive force of nature by the name of Justin Nelson arrived in his life and changed its course dramatically.
Now here is Beynon, swapping the broadcaster’s headset for the administrator’s briefcase and about to embark on his first season as General Manager of New Zealand’s men’s National Basketball League, which tips off on Thursday when the Nelson Giants host the Otago Nuggets. A revamped and retooled women’s league, with pay parity, also follows later in the year.
It’s fair to say things have moved rapidly for the 33-year-old one-time aspiring British rugby player (he has a Welsh dad and English mum, grew up just out of Cambridge, but calls himself a Kiwi now after 12 years living here) after he diverted a promising broadcasting career to throw his lot in with Basketball NZ, first in a communications role, and now as the big boss of the respective national leagues.
‘‘Three years ago I was at Sky doing commentary, working on Crowd Goes Wild and looking ahead at a media career, and never thought I’d get into this side of it,’’ he tells Stuff of the decision to step into the imposing high-tops of Nelson.
‘‘Then all of a sudden this diminutive Australian whirlwinds into the country, and I meet him at the first game of the 2019 season. It was
Manawatu Jets against the Supercity Rangers, and [coach] Jeff Green came out of that game with three fines to his name. I remember Justin had this look of ‘what have I got myself into?’
‘‘The story has been told about how he has turned the league around, but what doesn’t get mentioned is how he brings people with him. From that very first game he brought me in. He could tell I loved New Zealand basketball, he started using me on things and next I know I’m taking his role when he leaves. Everything has changed – such is the power of his enthusiasm, and his persuasion.’’
Beynon is an unabashed admirer of the work done by Nelson in his three years as NBL GM. Ironically the little Aussie is now working as head of commercial and events for Sky TV.
‘‘The league is in a fantastic place compared to three years ago,’’ reflects the now Nelsonbased Beynon. ‘‘Commercially and with competitive balance there have been big gains, but they’re by-products of his most impressive achievement – getting 10 teams pulling in the same direction. He needed that Australian brashness to come in and say, ‘we’re doing it this way, you’re either with us or you’re not’.
‘‘He’s told the clubs you’re rivals on the court but off it we’re all pulling in the same direction to make the league better and that has led to a vastly increased broadcast product, growing commercial dollars, attendances, merchandise sales
. . . everything has been a byproduct of everyone pulling in
the same direction.’’ And now Beynon gets to add his touch, which he’s adamant will come from a different perspective.
‘‘I don’t have that brashness Justin has, but we don’t need that now. I like to think I can work with people and collaborate. Now it’s a case of keeping everyone together, bouncing off a few more ideas and keeping the roll on.’’
Beynon sees it as a ‘‘filling gaps’’ time for a men’s league in which seven of the 10 teams returned surpluses in 2021. By that he means it’s about adding some finer detail to the widespread changes introduced under Nelson’s watch.
‘‘If you think about stretching a bit of dough out quickly, some holes appear. We need to make sure governance is up to speed, keep teams sustainable, and make sure we don’t get ahead of
ourselves. We’ve got to keep
going in a sensible yet ambitious direction. [Former CEO] Iain Potter sums it up nicely when he says you’ve got a cracking little league there, and we do,’’ adds Beynon. ‘‘We’ve got 10 fantastic NBL towns, fans turning up, and we’ve got to keep that going. If we can spread out the talent, like we’ve spread out business plans and money, we’re going to be on to a real winner.’’
He played rugby as a youngster, but a back injury nipped that in the bud. He dabbled in baseball, but basketball soon became his big passion (he is a diehard Sacramento Kings fan and a proficient rebounding forward at club level).
He and wife Mandy have settled nicely into Nelson life with their two young children, and delighted to be working under the stewardship of new CEO Dillon Boucher.