Rapid League – A World First Innovation

Fast and furious, and filled with rising basketball stars! Welcome to Rapid League, a world-first innovation that has taken New Zealand basketball by storm.

Rapid League is designed to accelerate and maximise player development via a unique set of rules, and help keep players in the game, while also ensuring financial sustainability is delivered for teams, venues, broadcast partners and fans.

Rapid League also greatly raises the number of commercial properties and revenue for teams, a positive outcome aimed to help bring more money into basketball.

Designed in November 2022 by Australian sports executive Justin Nelson, a former general manager of the NZNBL (2019-2021) and basketball commentator with Sky Sport in NZ (2022-2025). In a quirky backstory, Nelson developed the Rapid League concept and put the innovation together on a one-hour plane flight between Wellington and Auckland while working in New Zealand.

The innovation was based on six questions Nelson had written on his phone when he boarded the flight.

How can we better develop young basketball players at the elite level instead of having them sit on the bench and get little to no time playing in games?

How can we deliver more content on television without adding any more production costs?

How can we add more games of basketball without needing to hire venues on more days?

How can we limit extra cost on teams but give them more chances to show their brands, players and partners?

How can we give fans more bang for their buck and give them the chance to see all the players on court without adding additional days to the schedule?

How can we give teams and the League more commercial properties to sell and increase revenue?

From those six questions, the Rapid League concept was developed, and an exciting innovation was created. Rapid League made its worldwide debut in the 2023 Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa competition, New Zealand’s pro women’s league, before being played for the first time in the NZNBL in 2024, New Zealand’s pro men’s competition.

RAPID LEAGUE KEY RULES

Rapid League is a 4 x 4-minute quarter game played before the main game.

There is a minimum 25-minute break in-between the end of Rapid League and the start of the main game.

Rapid League teams can only suit-up the (7) players named on the bench for the main game.

The starting 5 players in the main game cannot play in Rapid League.

Coaches in Rapid League cannot call any timeouts. Teams are encouraged to have an assistant coach lead the Rapid League team.

Coaches can call substitutions to speak with their players, but the only other time is the 1-minute breaks in-between quarters and a 2-minue break at half-time.

Any overtime period consists of 1-minute on the clock and starts with a jump-ball in the middle circle.

Teams can make substitutions prior to the jump-ball, but coaches cannot huddle with or speak with players.

All points scored for and against in Rapid League are added to their team’s main game ladder (points for and against).

This ensures Rapid League games are played with full intensity and hold legitimacy to the overall product.

Teams can wear different uniforms and have different sponsors to the main game.

This helps teams to raise more revenue and attract more sponsors and also helps teams to produce different uniform designs.

Rapid League innovator Justin Nelson has this to say:

“Rapid League is designed to add 40% more playing time for players added to every scheduled main game, and it’s all about the players coming off the bench in the main game, so the opportunity for every player to hit the court is now there. Teams now have to play all 12 players, and this makes a massive difference to player management, player satisfaction and love for the game, their training and preparation, their mental well-being, and their overall enjoyment and position on the team.

“So many players (at all levels) drop out of basketball because they are stuck on the bench and don’t get enough opportunity to play, but Rapid League changes all of that – all players get to play on game day. And, by adding the points scored and conceded from Rapid League to the team’s ladder in the main competition, it means all coaches have to take Rapid League seriously, they have to play hard, they have to play to the final whistle, and the players and fans love that.

“Importantly, the concept also comes at minimal cost as the venue is already set up, the away team is already in town, and the television cameras are already in place for the main game. Even better, the fans get to see more basketball and all of the players on court without having to buy additional tickets or come back for another game on another day.

“And it’s not just about player development. Rapid League is the perfect competition to develop the next crop of elite referees and game officials, like scorers and statisticians, while all teams are encouraged to develop assistant coaches by having them take control of the team.”

The Rapid League Impact

One of the big Rapid League success stories came in 2024 when New Zealand’s men’s team finished 4th at the FIBA U17 World Cup, with 11 of the 12 players in the New Zealand team coming straight out of Rapid League.

Rapid League Records

Highest Team Score: 60 points (Canterbury Rams)

Highest Game Score: 110 points (Canterbury Rams 60 defeated Southland Sharks 50)

Highest Individual Score: 26 points – Tyson Thata-Paese (Manawatu Jets)