The NBL has announced the 2020-21 Hungry Jack\u2019s NBL Season will start in early 2021.<\/p>\n
Hungry Jack\u2019s NBL Owner and Executive Chairman Larry Kestelman said: \u201cAfter consulting with the nine NBL clubs and the Australian Basketball Players\u2019 Association and acting on the advice of our NBL Return to Competition Taskforce, we have decided the start of the season will be delayed until at least mid-January.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main reason for pushing the start of the season back to the new year is to give the clubs the best opportunity to play in front of as many fans as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will remain flexible about the exact start date and this will depend on a number of factors including travel and border restrictions, community transmission numbers and availability at venues across Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe intend to play a full season and, if needed, we will play in one or more hubs to achieve this. We are currently having positive discussions with a number of interested States about potential locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs always, the health and safety of our players, staff and fans will be our number one priority. But we also remain focused on playing in front of fans as they are the lifeblood of the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cDelaying the start of the season until the new year gives us the best opportunity to do that as well as the necessary time and flexibility to plan accordingly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank all of our team owners, players, corporate partners, staff and fans for their ongoing support. I am proud of the way we have stuck together during a challenging year for everyone and look forward to finalising plans for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
NBL Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger said: \u201cWe need to adopt appropriate health and safety protocols to ensure we can schedule a season that we can deliver in its entirety and does not unnecessarily impact financially on our Clubs. And having as many fans as possible at those games is critical to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NBL has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past five seasons and is now considered one of the best leagues in the world outside of the NBA. We are determined to continue to build on that momentum and repay the faith fans have shown in us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to provide regular updates over the coming weeks and months including an announcement about an exact start date and schedule of games as we get closer to the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thank all of our loyal and passionate fans for their patience and support. The NBL and the clubs need you more than ever and we can\u2019t wait for 2021 and what we hope will be a season and a year we can all look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The NBL has announced the 2020-21 Hungry Jack\u2019s NBL Season will start in early 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-172098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia"],"yoast_head":"\n