TALKS ON CALEDONIA PRIDE FUTURE
Caledonia Pride’s players are to have talks with Basketball Scotland about the club’s future.
Despite the best season in its six-year history, uncertainty reigns with the sport’s governing body likely to end its financial investment.
It’s emerged that two proposals to take over the Women’s British Basketball League side are now on the table: one from a Bathgate-based businessman and a second to bring the Pride under the umbrella of Glasgow Rocks.
But with head coach Bart Sengers keen to re-sign the bulk of the squad which reached last weekend’s WBBL Playoff semi-finals, the Dutchman wants clarity – and soon.
“The players wrote a letter to the board and now they want to speak to the players to get a feel for what the best decision should be,” Sengers said. “That might delay a decision. It was supposed to be next Wednesday. But I hope they move quickly.
“The owner of Hays Coaches, who bus us to games, has a proposal which keeps us in Edinburgh, still working with Edinburgh Uni, and puts some extra money into it and keeps the process the same so we can develop young Scots. It makes sense for our players because they can still combine practice with studies with less travel.
“The other option is Pride merges with Lady Rocks and they take over the WBBL franchise. We don’t know what that would mean in terms of facilities but it would present a problem for the current players and I’m sure it would leave a lot of details up in the air for a few months.”
Basketball Scotland insisted they plan to make a decision “in the near future” following discussions with their stars and interested parties.
“We’ve been engaging with everyone in Pride for some time now, but I understand that the lack of answers to key questions has caused uncertainty,” chair Stephen Ferguson said. “Now that the season for us is concluded, we’re looking to move to a more formal stage which will allow us to have meaningful conversations with everyone involved.
“Pride has had a great history and has a great future ahead of it. When we have clarity – and after we’ve prioritised communicating with the Pride family – then we’ll make that decision public.”
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