The NBL has announced a mid-season hub in Victoria which will uniquely act as both part of the regular season and also double as a newly introduced NBL Cup tournament with a $150,000 first prize.

The league and Victorian government this morning announced each team would play eight matches in the hub, extending the regular season to 36 matches.

But along with results counting towards the regular season, those same hub matches will also be broken up into their own block to form the NBL Cup.

As part of that competition, three points will be awarded for a win and an extra point awarded for each quarter won.

The NBL Cup winners will receive $150,000, the runner-up will take home $100,000 while third place is worth $50,000.

NBL Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger said the league wanted to provide more basketball, more entertainment and more options as part of the 2021 season.

“Playing these extra games in Victoria will provide us with valuable time for restrictions on crowd numbers to continue to be eased around the country, hopefully allowing more fans to see their teams play at home,” NBL Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger said.

“It also enables us to accumulate more games in an accelerated format should any unexpected issues arise later in the season.

“The additional games will also generate much needed revenue for our clubs during this COVID affected year but are also a huge bonus for our fans and the game of basketball across Australia as we bounce back from an unexpectedly long off-season.

“Extra games are a great outcome for everyone, especially when so many sporting leagues in Australia and around the world have had to shorten or even cancel their seasons.

“We are very grateful to the Victorian Government for the opportunity. It’s certainly not taken for granted given where we were only a few short months ago.”

The news follows Perth Wildcats director Mike Board announcing an extended season and Victorian hub at the club’s season launch earlier this month.

The hub won’t reduce the number of home games for each team, with the standard 14 matches still available for local fans to attend.

The NBL has only announced the first five rounds of the season and will also wait to release the hub fixture.

Hub matches will start on February 20 and be played between the end of the Australian Open tennis and the start of the AFL season in a bid to make the most of the gap in that sporting window.

NBL Owner and Executive Chairman Larry Kestelman described the hub as the biggest event the league had ever staged in one city.

“We plan to play a lot of double headers and ensure tickets will be great value for families,” he explained.

“We will start on the weekend of the Australian Open Finals at Melbourne Park and the NBL will provide fantastic sporting entertainment all the way through to the Australian Grand Prix and beginning of the AFL Season.”