Slingers stay closer to home

As was reported yesterday, the Slingers will no longer take part in 2008/09 NBL season. A representive of the Slingers made it clear in this comment that all player contracts will be honoured and in fact the Singaporean government has not withdrawn its support of the franchise.

Rather, the move for Singapore comes as a result of the increased travel costs associated with the NBL competition since the departure of the Sydney Kings and Brisbane Bullets. Presumably, this refers to the fact that the amended schedule would require more flights to cities which are not as economically feasible as flying to Sydney or Brisbane (two major hubs in Australia).

The Slingers have released this press release stating that the team will be playing in an Asian Professional League, which they presumably are in talks to construct, along with teams from Korea, Philippines, Japan and China.

“We had every intention to play our third season in the NBL and had recruited a team to be very competitive and more relevant to Singapore, with three players of Asian heritage on the roster”, said Slingers Managing Director Bob Turner.

“In spite of the team’s financial readiness to participate, the recent withdrawal of two keyteams from the NBL has had a negative impact on our business model and led to anunanticipated increase in travel costs. When the NBL could not accede to our request to help defray the exorbitant and rising travel costs, the board of the Slingers took the painful but necessary decision to leave the NBL and pursue the possibility of playing in a professional league in Asia instead”.

NBL news : Singapore Slingers next on the chopping block?

Recognition goes to JR, On Fire for first alerting a stern warning to this news.

It appears that the Singapore Slingers may be the next casualty of this NBL off-season. After having lost the Sydney Kings and Brisbane Bullets already, due to financial difficulties, the Slingers may also be unlikely to start the 2008-09 NBL season.

According to rumours circulating on OzHoopsBoards, "it seems that the Singapore Slingers will not compete this season. The NBL is down to ten teams. With the league review rumoured to force the Slingers out in 09/10, the Singapore government may have pulled the pin early."

The Slingers were heavily funded by the Singapore government and as such appeared to be one of the stronger financially backed teams in the league. Unfortunately, with that backing walking out the door, the Slingers immediately become an unviable entity.

There is much talk of the NBL moving to Australian soccer's A-League format, with a reduction in teams to concentrate on one team in each major geographical centre. There is a suggestion that this would not have involved a team from South East Asia under the current review being undertaken.

I should note in all this, that this is only a rumour at this stage with no confirmation from either the league, nor the team. I can only hope that it is not indeed true and that something happens to change this.

Singapore were going to be an interesting team to watch this season. They have heavily recruited in the off-season and brought in a cosmopolitan mix of players to better draw the fans in. Imports Darius Rice and Eric Sandrin looked to be exciting additions who have both dabbed into the NBA. Jason Castro from the Phillipines brought a totally different element of fan base to the team and would have played well alongside new acquisition Darren Ng from Adelaide. Ben Knight, captain of the Slingers, must be the most disappointed. He has been with the team since their inception into the league and will struggle to fit his player points into another team's cap before the season starts.

Most of the Australian-born players will likely have real difficulties in getting an NBL job this season without some points cap concessions.

UPDATE: from John Rillie, "What I'm hearing though is all player contracts will be honoured and the club is trying to play 15 exhibition games in Singapore in the upcoming months. I'm not sure what playing exhibition games will do for a franchise without a league but I do not know the Singapore market at all.This concept is interesting but knowing Bob Turner he must have something in the pipeline. Maybe the Slingers will join an Asian league? Would the Chinese CBA look at a team from Singapore?"

I wonder if they could try to get a run in the American CBA. Didn't a Chinese team do that a year or two back?