HOPES of a deal that see WNBL games return to free-to-air TV screens around Australia have been welcomed by the Bendigo Bank Spirit.
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Fairfax Media reports the league is on the verge of signing a "multi-year" television deal with a free-to-air network.
Basketball Australia chief executive Anthony Moore this week said the new deal was "imminent" with a free-to-air network.
Spirit coach Simon Pritchard said while details of any deal had not been shared with the organisation, the club was ecstatic.
"If it comes off, we'll be really supportive and do anything we can to help that TV deal and promote it, " he said.
The deal, which Moore said was "close to being locked-down", was greeted with cheer by players.
Spirit guard Kerryn Harrington said it was an exciting move for women's basketball.
"It's been such a shame to this point that it has been taken off TV," she said.
"For clubs to survive and for sponsors to get on-board, it's so important to have that national, I suppose, recognition and exposure.
"It's very, very exciting."
WNBL games have not been broadcast live since the end of the 2014-15 season, when the ABC axed its coverage after a 35-year association with the women's game.
It prompted an outcry from WNBA fans in Bendigo and elsewhere.
Coverage of women's soccer and men's state league football games in Western Australia and South Australia were also axed.
The decision to drop WNBL coverage led federal Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters to table a petition in parliament, calling on the ABC to continue broadcasting games.
The petition gained about 2000 signatures from Spirit and other sports fans.
It is believed a potential five year deal will include coverage of Opals and Boomers matches.
Moore said he was disappointed the WNBL was heading into round eight with a TV deal, but the "reality is these deals take time".
- with Roy Ward, The Age
