A bid to revive a Canberra team in the National Basketball League "appears doomed to fail, with the NBL cutting financial support for its expansion program" and imposing a A$1M ($930,000) license fee on new clubs wanting to enter the competition, according to Chris Wilson of the CANBERRA TIMES. A Canberra group of basketball and business identities "had banded together over the past few months to work towards a potential bid" to enter the '15-16 NBL season. Several of the key players in the Canberra proposal "are ready to pull back from the project after the NBL made significant changes to its expansion plans in the past fortnight" -- notably introducing a A$1M participation fee for expansion clubs. While NBL CEO Fraser Neill has publicly assured there will be an expansion team in Brisbane, it is understood that "the NBL board has given him a directive to focus resources on stabilising existing clubs in the eight-team competition rather than directing any more financial support towards expansion" (CANBERRA TIMES, 7/31).
