Players Association backs new domestic league

The players stand to be one of the winners out of yesterday’s five-year SKY TV broadcast deal announcement and the New Zealand Elite Domestic League.

While there are still a lot of details to nut out, New Zealand Netball Players Association (NZNPA) executive manager Stephanie Bond says the overall feeling amongst the players has been positive and supportive.

“It is really exciting. It enables players in New Zealand to continue to prioritise Netball next year,” Bond said.

“With a five year deal it now gives it a certain future for a lot of those players which is great.”

Thursday 19 May, 2016, will go down in New Zealand Netball history as a momentous occasion; a day when one of the largest broadcast deals in the history of women’s sport - and certainly the largest in NZ or Australia - was announced between Netball New Zealand and SKY TV.

“The five year term from SKY is really key,” she said.

“It’s great that they can back a women’s competition like this in New Zealand.

“The broadcast deal means funds can be invested back into the system. Having the high performance structure in the Zones and the Beko Netball League competition continuing to run, I think we’ll go from strength-to-strength.

“It shows the strength of Netball in New Zealand; the numbers we have playing here, the community behind it and now we can put money back into that community which will be awesome.”

Bond says the move in 2008 to having every game live on TV has had a positive impact on the profile of the players.

“The previous domestic competition was only one game live a weekend and now we have every game live a weekend, in terms of profile for the players that’s huge,” Bond said.

“Fans see them every week on TV, so it helps them grow their image and profile.”