The Sports Factor

After many years in the national league the Sydney Kings have now been kicked out of the commpetition. So, where to from here?

Transcript

This transcript was typed from a recording of the program. The ABC cannot guarantee its complete accuracy because of the possibility of mishearing and occasional difficulty in identifying speakers.

Finally this week, to a somewhat crestfallen follow-up.

Last week on the program Mike Wrublewski, the man who originally owned the licence to the Sydney Kings basketball team, was speaking enthusiastically about a plan to save the team and keep it in the National Basketball League.

He was a man with a plan, but sadly it didn't work out. The failure of the existing owners to meet their financial commitments meant the NBL opted to kick the Kings out.

Time to ring Mike again.

Mike Wrublewski, welcome back to The Sports Factor on a less happy note.

Mike Wrublewski: Yes, a less happy note. Well, we've tried, but it doesn't look like it's quite worked.

Mick O'Regan: What happened?

Mike Wrublewski: Well in the end I think the NBL has decided that they've sort of had enough of the Kings, they wanted to have the money that was outstanding to them paid, and it was going to be quite obvious that Tim Johnston wasn't going to pay it, and that's why I tried to strike the deal that I did last week, in an attempt to save the club, but it obviously hasn't worked.

Mick O'Regan: What did you say to Tim Johnston?

Mike Wrublewski: Well effectively I said to Tim that based on where he is at the moment, and the debts that the current club is having, and the media that it's been attracting and the fact that he hasn't been able to pay the players and stuff, the best option for him would be to sell the licence to me and the IP of the Kings to me and the court to me so that I could try and at least talk to the NBL and find a way to keep the Kings alive. And he did that. But the NBL in their wisdom have decided he either pays the bill or we cancel the licence, and that's what they've done.

Mick O'Regan: So you can't take over that bill, your offer doesn't extend to paying that?

Mike Wrublewski: Well I can't. I can't and I won't, because as soon as I pay them any money, they become a preferential creditor, then every other creditor of the organisation, which can be anything up to $2-million, comes after me, and I can't do that.

Mick O'Regan: So basically Firepower aren't in a position to pay their debts, and you're not in a position to take them on?

Mike Wrublewski: Exactly.

Mick O'Regan: So for the Kings, I mean it's this remarkable situation where a very successful franchise on court is falling apart off court?

Mike Wrublewski: Yes, and I think it shows how important it is to have a stable management off court, regardless of the performances on court.

Mick O'Regan: Will the Kings go somewhere else, do you think?

Mike Wrublewski: Where can they go? I don't see that there's any light at the end of the tunnel. I did put a plan together to the NBL but obviously they've got other ideas as to what they want to do.

Mick O'Regan: What would your plan have done?

Mike Wrublewski: My plan was to have them transfer the licence to me, and the name to me, and I would agree not to play in the next upcoming season 2008/2009, I would wait for their plan, which was due to be their restructure, which is due to happen in July of this year, and then I would fit into the rules and whatever the rules were, going forward, and that way I would have a decent 8 or 9 months to prepare a team, the sponsorship, the supporters and everybody would know that there would be a Kings brand playing in the following season.

Mick O'Regan: And it wouldn't have been a rebuilding from the ground up in the sense of a complete renewal? You would have basically had if you like a bye season, get everything together off courts to then reposition the team on court?

Mike Wrublewski: Exactly. I made a commitment to try and honour the players' contracts, so long as they were within the salary cap, and to give everybody some time to actually plan the process, rather than go into this season which is happening in two months time, with nothing supporting the team and guaranteed to lose another $2-million. And you're right back where you started.

Mick O'Regan: Absolutely. If there was a new licence proposed for Sydney, would you bid on it?

Mike Wrublewski: Not at the cost of $2-million, no. My purpose was not to have a new licence, my purpose in this whole thing was to try and save the team. I'm not in the business of bidding for licences, I've been there, I've done that, I don't need to do that again, I just wanted to save a product.

Mick O'Regan: But it now looks as though that the product can't be saved, and so it's farewell to the Sydney Kings.

Mike Wrublewski: Well under the current situation, yes. That's exactly how it looks.

Mick O'Regan: Mike Wrublewski, the man who couldn't put the Kings back together again.

And that's it for The Sport Factor this week. My thanks to the production of team of Andrew Davies, and Jim Ussher.

Guests

Mike Wrublewski
Former owner of the Sydney Kings.

Presenter

Mick O'Regan

Producer

Andrew Davies