Basketball: Breakers to consider Vector Arena option

Photo / Dean Purcell

The Breakers may move away from the North Shore to Vector Arena in downtown Auckland for some games in the upcoming Australian National Basketball League season.

As well, the Breakers yesterday announced a major three-year sponsorship deal with SkyCity, which the club's general manager Richard Clarke said was the largest by some distance in the team's eight-year history.

He said the sponsorship deal also gave them a chance to look at moving some matches from the 4500 capacity North Shore Events Centre to the 12,000 capacity Vector Arena.

Clarke said it would be useful to have Vector Arena available if last year's champions qualified for the playoffs again, but he wanted the team to have some regular season games there before considering playoff matches.

"We didn't play there last season because the team had never played there," he said. "You don't go into a key match in a stadium you've never played, so by playing some regular season games there we will be able to test the venue and get the guys comfortable and familiar with it, so that if we needed to play playoff games there we'd be confident in putting the guys there."

Clarke hoped to confirm some games for Vector Arena within the next two weeks, but he said they would not abandon the venue which had become a fortress for the team in the past three seasons.

"North Shore Events Centre will remain our home."

Clarke said the sponsorship deal was a substantial one and would be of great value to the team.

"It gives us a lot of stability and the ability to do some things with confidence now that we've got that support, but also the support beyond the sponsorship investment from SkyCity is something we're excited with - the ability to grow what we offer to our fans."

The Breakers finalised their roster for next season with the signing of Tall Blacks big man Leon Henry.

Henry, who filled in for the Breakers last season while Kirk Penney was trialling for the San Antonio Spurs in the American NBA, is one of two new players on full contracts for next season.

The other is American point guard Cedric Jackson, whose signature was confirmed last week.

Clarke said the team would miss star shooting guard Penney, who is heading to Fuenlabrada in Spain's ACB league, but he was excited at the opportunity it gave the younger New Zealand players such as Corey Webster, Tom Abercrombie and Alex Pledger.

"The confidence in them to step up is so high, it's an exciting thing," he said. "We love Kirk and we're sure he will be back, but what his departure has given us is a real excitement about seeing what the young guys can do."

- NZPA