GET United will not return to the BNXT League

Bemmel – United Basketball has decided not to take part in the BNXT League (the senior professional competition featuring Dutch and Belgian teams) next season. Despite the sporting progress of the first men’s team and the ambition to return to the highest level, it is currently not possible to meet the required financial conditions in a responsible way.

Alongside the financial requirements the BNXT League places on participating teams, United Basketball considers it essential that a return to the highest level takes place on a structural and sustainable (multi-year) basis. The club aspires not only to compete with the men’s team at the highest level in the Netherlands, but at the same time invests in its Women’s Eredivisie team and in the Academy, where several teams are active at the national top level. For the board it is of great importance that these programmes can continue to develop undisturbed, and that a possible promotion does not come at the expense of the growth of other parts of the club. That is why United Basketball chooses to return to the BNXT League only when all programmes can be sustainably supported.

United Basketball’s interim chair Jeroen Naalden is optimistic about the future: “It was a difficult decision to make; from a sporting and growth perspective there’s nothing you’d like more than to cash in on promotion. However, we also have to look carefully at a healthy business operation, and we’ve made clear that we don’t want to return to the BNXT League for just one season. That requires a minimum budget, which we haven’t been able to realise. We keep building for the future and look ahead with confidence to growing further.”

For the GET United men’s head coach, Jeroen van Vugt, the message hit hard. “Even though I fully understand the board’s decision, it comes as an enormous disappointment to me and the team. This season we aimed everything at the championship in order to force promotion, and we’re in a good position for it at the moment. That makes it all the more frustrating that we can’t take the step up now.” The team currently tops the Promotiedivisie and is already assured of a play-off spot, as the strongest candidate for the title. The club remains ambitious and is focused on making a structural return to the BNXT League possible in the near future after all.