More games, "a longer season and teams in two Asian countries within the next two years" are on Australia's National Basketball League's agenda as league officials look to capitalize on the game’s "growing momentum," according to Russell Gould of the HERALD SUN. NBL GM Jeremey Loeliger said that the game's administration "was wary of going too big too soon with more money still going out than coming in." But he "conceded the surge in interest," from both fans and corporate partners, in just the second season of the new-look league "was validation for their initially ambitious plans." Those plans "are only getting bigger" and could include teams based in Manila and Shanghai "sooner rather than later, with more games as a result." Loeliger: "The discussions are very well advanced, and commercially and logistically I am very confident we could make it work. We need to jump through a certain number of procedural hoops to make sure we do it in a way that everyone is happy with." He added, "There is definitely going to be more basketball on the horizon, how we piece that jigsaw together is what we are working through." Loeliger said that the NBL’s preference was to "introduce the two new teams at the same time, but that could be affected by several factors including local bureaucracy" (HERALD SUN, 12/6).
