The NBL is finally turning a profit says league owner Larry Kestelman.

Kestleman has revealed via the Australian that thanks to the recently signed $45m broadcast deal the NBL signed with News Corp, Foxtel and ESPN the league is profitable as a central governing body for the first time since he bought it for $7m seven years ago.

Kestelman, who has recently been listed on Australia’s Richest 250, now plans to look for new investors to join him in financing the league and capitalise on the NBL’s growth and commercial opportunities in both Australia and overseas.

Expanding the number of teams is a key part of this and plans to follow a similar model to the one Aussie Hoopla outlined in 2020 which has now seen Tasmania field a highly successful team in 2021-22.

He’s cited Canberra as being a clear front runner if local and federal governments are prepared to help him revamp the ageing AIS Arena in return for property agreements, similar to what was agreed to in Tasmania.

“I went to Canberra and … I don’t understand how a city of 500,000 does not have a modern 5000 capacity venue,” Kestelman says.

“What we have done in Tasmania could be a blueprint for Canberra. There have been meetings but we need the federal government to deal with the (territory) government on it.”

“Canberra could be Hobart 2.0. The AIS Arena is as old the DEC [Derwent Entertainment Centre] and that got refurbished and is good as new now. The government spent $60m on it rather than a $200m new stadium. Now we manage it and it is going to operate 120 days a year for all sorts of events. But the NBL licence was the catalyst for that.”

While Kestelman owns the league, the 10 teams are majority-owned individually, except for Tasmanian which while Kestleman controls the team currently he hopes to sell the JackJumpers to investors next year.

“I think it’s a really interesting moment in time for us. When I took over, we had no broadcaster, no sponsors, and generally, the sport was in big trouble. I’m proud to say we are profitable for the first time now. We have good broadcast partners in ESPN, Foxtel and Kayo. The NBL has really arrived in my mind.”

This success has seen large corporates invest in the product, Tesla’s Robyn Denholm is a part of the Sydney Kings ownership and Vicinity Centres chief executive Grant Kelley owns the Adelaide 36ers. Although NBL clubs currently lose millions of dollars collectively each year, it’s believed they will look for a revised agreement with the NBL next season, one which sees more of the NBL revenue shared among teams and allows teams to have a greater say in the direction of the league.

Kestelman was quick to note that although teams are still losing money the value of team licences “are going through the roof”, giving the owners capital appreciation at least.”

“[A value of] $35m is just normal now. We think we’re the second best league in the world behind the NBA [National Basketball Association in the US], where the teams can be worth $3bn. So we’re 1 per cent of that now. I think there’s no limit to where we can go.”

Kestelman says he is fielding investor interest in the league and that he does “want to explore getting strategic partners, such as people who can help the league grow domestically and overseas [such as] media companies, people with good connections around the world through to the NBA.” The league has seen recent sponsorships with groups from SEN Radio (United and Perth) and Slam Magazine (Illawarra) who were able to not only successfully operate NBL teams but also expand the reach of the league.

When asked about what the NBL is potentially worth today, Kestelman made a note of the recent $400m valuations for soccer’s A-League and acknowledged he would be “disappointed” if the league was valued any less.

“The markets will determine what we are worth. But consider that we are profitable and have a strong upside, unlike the A-League, and I feel we are just beginning.” said Kestleman

Dan Boyce (828 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.