Baseball: NZ given every chance to enter ABL

New Zealand perform the Haka during the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifier. Photo / Getty Images

Baseball Australia will give their New Zealand counterparts every opportunity to get a team in the Australian Baseball League in the coming years.

New chief executive Cam Vale extended a formal invite to Baseball New Zealand this week to put forward a bid to join the current six-team league while he also is encouraging interest from around Australia and Asia

"It is a competitive process we are going through," Vale told Radio Sport. "There has been a lot of interest from Australia. We looked at a South Korean team coming into the league this year but it just didn't quite work out timing wise.

"The expansion piece is initially focused on a seventh and eighth team. I hope it is more than that over time. We want to get it right so we are really locking in on those first two."
But Vale is promising to make it as easy as possible for their trans-Tasman neighbours to get a professional club and become part of the league.

"It is a combination of us providing now the information to our terms, which we think will be really appealing," he said. "It is not going to be a high cost league to enter. We are not trying to make it difficult for teams to enter. We are doing the opposite - trying to make it as appealing as possible.

"Then it is a matter of New Zealand building that business case and lining things up to make sure it works.

"The door is open. There is not a timeframe that has to be met. Ideally to be one of the seventh or eighth teams we are looking at a three or four month period to sign off on that in March or April next year but if for whatever reason it wasn't quite ready in New Zealand and needed more time then so be it we will keep the door open if that meant that it was in two years or three years.

"I'd love four teams around this region to have a compelling case to come into the league and we would seriously consider going to a ninth and 10th team.

"We want teams that will come in on a platform of strength, they will be competitive and most importantly they will be sustainable from a business side. It is not a bidding war - it is not who is going to pay the highest price. The conditions will be equal for everyone and then it is down to seeing a sustainable plan that will have these teams in forever."

There will be a few hurdles for any prospective New Zealand bid to jump through. Firstly they need enough financial backing to support a club, they will need to attract some quality international players and most importantly and probably the toughest challenge will be to secure a playing facility that would be able to cater for the franchise.

"I think the business side Ryan seems to have a really good understanding where he thinks it can be successful," Vale said. "The playing and development - I think we see with New Zealand it is just a sporting nation that the athletes will come through. We have a fairly heavy import model at the moment and that is not going to change in the short-term, especially for an expansion team.

"Sorting out the facilities is the main one."

Auckland Council [through Regional Facilities Auckland] and Baseball New Zealand have been in talks around finding a suitable stadium site and getting the funding to construct it. It would be a tough job getting that completed within 12 months but Vale said there were options.

Baseball New Zealand have talked about playing entirely on the road in their first year as a stepping stone while a stadium was being completed and Vale admits they'd be open to that.

"We would be comfortable to have teams that have a short-term, temporary model that they have to work to for 12-24 months," he said.

"We will certainly weigh up all the factors. The South Korean team that we looked at - that was their model. They were going to be an away team everywhere and they would have their base 12 months later."