NBL confirms return of October to March schedule

NBL commissioner Jeremy Loeliger has confirmed the 2022-23 season will begin in late September or early October.

After the schedules of the past two campaigns have been impacted by COVID, Loeliger is confident the NBL will return to its normal summer window this season.

“Late September or early October, certainly after the AFL Grand Final, not all that long after it,” Loeliger told Sport FM about the season start date.

“We would like to see if we can get going in the last week of September or first week of October.

"Back in our traditional season schedule playing through until sometime in March.

"We are very much looking forward to being back in that October to March window.”

Loeliger also provided an update on the NBL Finals Play-In Tournament, which will be introduced this season.

The commissioner said an announcement on its structure can be expected in the next few weeks, as numerous models remain a possibility.

“We have several drafts sitting on the desk of what the Play-In will look like,” Loeliger said.

“It’s ticking all the boxes in terms of extending the interest of the season into more markets for longer.

“I think everyone wanted the Finals to extend for a little bit longer.

"Simply increasing the number of games didn’t necessarily address our objective, it just meant you have the same teams playing a little bit more often and that puts additional stress on the teams who finished in the final four because you’re trying to sell more tickets to the same fanbase in a very short amount of time.

“We wanted to keep the top four as it is, after the Play-In series.

"The Play-In will extend the excitement of the Finals into another few markets and it will keep part of our fanbase interested for a little bit longer.

“It will also give a little bit more meaning to the final finishing spots of positions outside the top four, which means the regular season will also hold everyone’s interest for longer.”