In one of the few bright spots of the NBL's off-season, the Adelaide 36ers won't be homeless next season. So that's something, right?
Ferrier Hodgson — agents for the Commonwealth Bank — have told the club that they've extended their lease on Adelaide Arena, according to Adelaide Now.
There were legitimate fears the bank — which took ownership of the arena when former ABC Learning CEO Eddy Groves, who has already left one NBL franchise in the dust, defaulted on his loan — intended to sell the 7,800-capacity venue. This would have left the 36ers playing their games under a bridge or in a cardboard box.
While the club can't be "100 per cent certain" of its survival until it receives formal lease documents on Monday, Sixers chief executive Leeanne Grantham is relieved to have received verbal confirmation from the bank.
"Today we received the call we had all been waiting for," she told Adelaide Now. "It's a huge relief for us and all basketball fans. We have a few formalities to go through next week but the call today strongly indicates that we can now fully focus on getting the 36ers on court on October 7."
The Sixers' first home game of the 2012-13 season is against the Melbourne Tigers on October 7.
