Netball: Worlds complicate transtasman timing

The timing of the 2011 World Netball Championships is posing strong challenges for transtasman league organisers as they work towards securing the future of the championship beyond next season.

When plans were unveiled in early 2007, the ANZ Championship was to be trialled for three years, with sponsorship and broadcasting deals secured only until the end of the 2010 season.

Transtasman Netball Limited (TTNL) have commenced renegotiations with Sky Television and ANZ to extend their involvement with the league beyond next year. But the timing of the next World Champs, to be staged in Singapore in July 2011, has complicated the process.

The transtasman league typically runs from the first week of April until the end of July.

Next year, the competition will start two weeks earlier to accommodate the international season as teams build up for the Commonwealth Games.

But it is likely league organisers will have to drastically alter the timing or format of the competition once again in 2011 to ensure New Zealand and Australia have sufficient preparation time for what is the pinnacle event in international netball.

TTNL general manager Anthony Everard said he doesn't want a situation occurring where the ANZ Championship becomes a second-rate competition every four years.