It looks as if the recession's beginning to bite the National Basketball League with the NBL board having to extend the deadline for teams to enter the 2009 competition.
It's given Canterbury, Hawkes Bay and Otago until 5pm on Friday to confirm their entries after seven of last year's teams had paid the initial $5000 deposit by yesterday's deadline
The chairman Sam Rossiter-Stead says each of the three has its own individual circumstances, but all have potential changes of management and/or ownership.
He says the board is offering whatever support it can but has "pressing commercial timelines" and Friday evening is the very latest it can leave things.
The teams which have paid are Auckland, North Harbour, Manawatu , Nelson, Taranaki, Waikato and Wellington.
