New Zealand's only professional baseball franchise has announced it is purchasing the licence of the National Basketball League's Auckland Huskies.
The Auckland Tuatara have played two seasons in the Australian Baseball League, making the playoffs in their second year before the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to sit out the next two campaigns.
On Monday, the club announced several of the Tuatara's shareholders are part of a consortium that has purchased the North Shore-based basketball club, intending to re-brand the Huskies as the Tuatara and play out of Eventfinda Stadium.
The two sporting bodies will be separate entities but will share the same brand, while some staff will work across both properties to help bring the culture of the Auckland Tuatara baseball franchise over to the basketball organisation.
Tuatara Baseball chief executive Regan Wood is one of the shareholders in the group that will establish the Tuatara Basketball brand.
"We have been talking to the NBL for about a year now, sharing information and ideas trying to navigate COVID," Wood explains.
"As we had more to do with them, we started to realise the enormous potential of the Sal's NBL and the unique opportunity to spread our brand across the basketball landscape and be part of one of the best domestic sporting competitions in New Zealand.
"There has been massive growth in the NBL in recent times and we are very excited about what the future holds.
"There is a natural fit with the Tuatara being in Auckland and specifically the North Shore, with the region being the best basketball nursery in the country.
"Our goal is to bring our vibrant, fan-first mentality from baseball across to basketball and build a franchise Auckland basketball fans can be proud of.
"We are also very aware of the need to create and be part of a pathway for our region's leading players and we will work with the local associations and leading schools to ensure that we set high standards in this area."
The new ownership group confirms Aaron Young, who was the incumbent Huskies head coach, will stay on as part of the re-branded Tuatara and will immediately begin work on assembling his coaching staff and playing roster.
"Everyone we spoke to thinks incredibly highly of Aaron, and it made sense for him to stay on as coach," Wood says.
"He did a great job with a young team in 2021 and we think he will continue that with our group around him.
"We like what he brings to the role, and we share the same philosophies around what direction the franchise needs to head in."
