The Auckland Tuatara baseball franchise has been placed into liquidation and will no longer compete in the Australian Baseball League.
The Tuatara entered the Australian league in 2018 but sat out the entire 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons due to Covid travel restrictions.
A statement from the organisation’s directors said “the impacts of Covid over the past three years, significant increase in costs across the business, plus the loss of income from missing seven of the team’s scheduled 20 home games this past summer has placed a huge strain on finances”.
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Club spokesperson Dale Budge told RNZ he did not know the figure owed but said it was an insurmountable amount.
“We put a heck of a lot of time and energy and money and effort into this over the last five years. It’s been all-consuming and it’s never been easy. There’s been a lot of challenges which just made it impossible to continue,” Budge said.
“Shortly after bringing the franchise to life, we were hit with the impacts of Covid, travel restrictions and the financial implications that came with it.
“When competition did finally return to Auckland, the weather didn’t play ball with of three of five home games played impacted by weather and affecting crowd attendance.
”The costs of participating have skyrocketed over the past few months and all teams competing in the ABL have found it challenging financially.
”We feel for the staff, who have worked tirelessly to keep the lights on, for the players and coaches that no longer have a local team to play for and for the sport that has lost its public face.
”It is a very sad day for our sport.”
The Tuatara played their last game in January, losing in the semi-finals to eventual title winners the Adelaide Giants.
The liquidation of the baseball franchise does not affect the basketball franchise which competes in the national domestic competition, the NBL.
Budge said it was a reflection of where the two sports sit in New Zealand.
”Basketball is much bigger, it’s much more popular but we were trying to make baseball get to a point where it was an everyday sport for New Zealanders and it’s really sad that we’re not going to be able to succeed in that goal,” Budge said.
Baseball Australia chief executive Glenn Williams released a statement on Friday confirming he was first alerted to the news via media reports and had not been contacted or consulted by the Auckland-based team prior to the announcement.
“To be alerted about a situation of this magnitude through a public media notice after the support the ABL has provided the Auckland Tuatara is beyond disappointing,” Williams said.
“As an organisation, Baseball Australia have been immensely supportive of the Tuatara. We recognise the various challenges the team has faced since returning from a Covid-19-enforced lay-off. It is important to note, these challenges were also faced by all domestic teams and the ABL during the same period.
“While we are extremely disappointed in the lack of common courtesy in communicating this news, our focus has already turned to assist the teams and players through what will be a difficult transitional period into new ABL teams for the 23/24 season.”
“It’s a sad day for baseball in New Zealand and we feel for the players, coaches, volunteers and most importantly, fans who supported the Tuatara throughout their time in the ABL”.
This article originally appeared on the New Zealand Herald and was reproduced with permission
