The Australian National Basketball League has been reduced to an eight-team competition after the cash-strapped Gold Coast Blaze chose to withdraw from the league.
After going into receivership earlier this year, the club's owners were given until Friday last week to demonstrate they could meet all necessary licensing requirements, including financial stability.
Hoever late Tuesday night the club's owners advised Basketball Australia they'd decided to withdraw from the competition.
The Auckland-based Breakers are the defending champions and the next season is due to begin on October 5th and will feature 24 rounds, with a revised schedule following Gold Coast's withdrawal to be released on Friday.
The eight teams in the competition are the Breakers, Adelaide 36ers, Cairns Taipans, Melbourne Tigers, Perth Wildcats, Sydney Kings, Townsville Crocodiles and Wollongong Hawks.
