WITH Mount Gambier having finally secured a place for the Pioneers to play basketball this year, the negotiations behind the scenes have ensured the process will go ahead with minimal financial disruption to all clubs involved.
That includes the Pioneers – at least for the first year of the South Australian Premier League, where the club was granted a one-year licence to compete.
A figure of $40,000 was bandied around as to what it would cost clubs to travel to Mount Gambier from Adelaide, with the Pioneers set to pick up the tab.
However, according to Pioneers president Tom Kosch, Basketball Australia will fund the majority of those costs for the first year, with an expected review mid-way through the season.
Kosch said BA will fund up to $35,000, with the remainder up to Mount Gambier to find.
That alleviates some of the pressure off the Pioneers as they look to rebuild a team virtually from scratch, after the majority of players have moved on to chase other opportunities while unsure if
the club even had a future, plus the creation of a women’s team, which was a proviso of the club’s acceptance into the competition.
Kosch said the figures involved were simply based on the club’s own experiences.
“Based on our experiences with travel, that would cater for the majority of expenses for all clubs,” he said.
“But Mount Gambier would have to fund the travel costs for teams coming to the city for finals, if we get the opportunity to host them.”
Kosch accepted the Pioneers inclusion into the Premier League was disruptive for the league and the teams involved, but said the short-term fix would help everything run as smoothly as possible financially.
He said it was a big relief for the Pioneers, after being part of the South East Australian Basketball League for such a long time.
“The reality of it is we were part of a fully-equalised competition before this,” he said.
“We used to pay the majority of our travel through the league.
“Heading into 2020 we would need to find something that works favourably for us, because the expectation is there would be a review at the mid-way point of this season and a large conversation
would occur around the travel costs for any team within the Premier League.
“There is a fair bit to be discussed if Mount Gambier is to remain a part of the Premier League.”
Kosch said the club’s intention is to reapply for inclusion into the new Victorian elite competition, which has effectively replaced the SEABL, with invitations for the 2020 season due to be handed out in July.
Another factor to alleviate the pain for the Pioneers is several double-header road trips which have been added to the roster, to help cut down the travel issues for Mount Gambier.
“At the time we sat down with Basketball SA we understood the challenges with trying to make the fixture work,” Kosch said.
“It was a credit to Basketball Adelaide and the BSA clubs they did all they could to accommodate some double-header road weekends for Mount Gambier.
“It is one of those things which probably works in our favour, but we were willing to explore any options for the BSA clubs to consider us in.
“It has taken some time to tick off the fixture and we know our inclusion in the league has been a fairly disruptive one, but we expect to get a final fixture in the coming days.”
Overall Kosch said he understood the concern of Premier League clubs regarding the financial burden of travelling to Mount Gambier to compete, as the estimated $4000 per club could well be used to secure an extra player for their roster.
