The Manawatu Jets

What The Manawatu Jets does

The Manawatu Jets is a professional basketball team competing in New Zealand's premier domestic league, the Sal's NBL, based at 240 Broadway Avenue in Palmerston North. Founded in 1982 as one of eight inaugural NBL franchises and operating as a private sporting organisation with approximately 8 employees, the franchise rebranded from the Palmerston North Jets to the Manawatū Jets in 2002 to reflect the wider regional catchment it serves. The Jets re-entered the NBL in 2018 after a brief period outside the league and returned to the Grand Final in 2020.

The franchise's core offering is competitive basketball entertainment paired with a regional player development pathway. On the commercial side, the Jets sell single-game tickets via the Flicket platform and a tiered sponsorship ladder to regional businesses, ranging from Principal Partner (Property Brokers, which holds naming rights — hence the official 'Property Brokers Manawatu Jets' branding) and Home Court, Official Team, and Tier 1 Partner (all reported as sold out for 2026) down to Tier 2, Tier 3, Game Day, Player Sponsor, and 500 Club Membership tiers. Distribution is layered: live attendance at home games, NZ NBL's national broadcast and global live streaming, social media, an informational Squarespace website, and grassroots community engagement.

The business model is sponsorship-led recurring annual subscriptions, supplemented by transactional ticket revenue and ancillary media/partnership deals (e.g., Massey University, NZ Basketball / BBNZ, Kevin Bills Media). The franchise is deeply integrated with the Central Regional Basketball Foundation (CRBF), which delivers grassroots programmes, school initiatives, academies, and camps while the Jets provide the professional aspiration point — together forming a grassroots-to-NBL pathway that the franchise positions as central to its identity. There is no proprietary technology platform; the only digital infrastructure noted is a Squarespace website, the Flicket ticketing integration, and standard social media accounts.

Name

The Manawatu Jets

Legal name

The Manawatu Jets

Website

https://thejets.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1982

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Manawatu Jets is a professional basketball franchise competing in New Zealand's Sal's NBL, based in Palmerston North. It generates revenue through tiered regional business sponsorships (anchored by Property Brokers as Principal Partner), Flicket ticket sales, and grassroots development programs delivered jointly with the Central Regional Basketball Foundation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Palmerston North

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Sponsorship and Partnership Revenue: Regional businesses sponsor the team at various tiers including Principal Partner, Home Court Partner, Official Team Partner, and various lower tiers. Sponsors gain exposure through national broadcast, live streaming, game-day events, and community programs reaching thousands of young people across Manawatu.
2. Ticket Sales: Single game tickets sold through the Flicket platform for NZ NBL matches played at home venue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Manawatu Jets is a professional basketball team competing in Sal's NBL (New Zealand's National Basketball League), based in Palmerston North, Manawatu. Founded in 1982, the team delivers live basketball entertainment through home games, supported by ticket sales, sponsorship partnerships, and community basketball programs. The organization operates with a lean team of 8 employees and partners with local businesses for sponsorship revenue.

Product overview

The Manawatu Jets operate as a single unified offering: a professional basketball team competing in the New Zealand National Basketball League (Sal's NBL). The team's core product is the basketball team itself, supplemented by ticket sales (via Flicket), sponsorship packages at various tiers, and community basketball development programs delivered in partnership with the Central Regional Basketball Foundation. The organization focuses on providing a visible pathway from grassroots basketball to professional play for young athletes in the Manawatu region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Manawatu Jets Basketball Team Competition (Sal's NBL) The Manawatu Jets' home basketball games played in Sal's NBL (New Zealand's National Basketball League), offered to local fans and sports entertainment consumers in the Manawatu region.
• Single Game Tickets Individual match tickets for home games, sold to local fans and families for live basketball attendance at the team's home venue in Palmerston North.
• Sponsorship Packages Custom sponsorship and partnership packages offered to local and regional businesses for brand visibility, including naming rights (e.g., Property Brokers Manawatu Jets), on-court signage, and corporate hospitality.

Quantifiable outcome

• Serving thousands of young basketball players across the Manawatu region each season

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor, flagship and major.

• Central Regional Basketball Foundation (CRBF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRBF delivers basketball development and the Jets provide aspiration. Together they are building a genuine pathway from grassroots to professional level. CRBF handles grassroots programmes, school initiatives, academies, camps, and community engagement while the Jets serve as the visible professional destination for regional talent.
• Sal's NBLcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Jets compete in the Sal's NBL, New Zealand's premier basketball league. The league provides national broadcast coverage and global live streaming, elevating the profile and reach of the Jets team and their sponsors.
• Kevin Bills MediaminorOthersKevin Bills Media provided professional team photography services for the 2026 season team photos.
• Property BrokersflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerProperty Brokers holds the naming rights as Principal Partner (sold out). The team is officially branded as 'Property Brokers Manawatu Jets', representing the flagship sponsorship relationship.
• Massey UniversitymajorGTM or Marketing PartnerMassey University is an official partner and sponsor, with their recreation centre logo displayed among the sponsor family.
• NZ Basketball (BBNZ)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNZ Basketball is a sponsor with their logo displayed, representing the national basketball governing body partnership.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Nelson Giants: Sal's NBL team from the Nelson region that competes in the same league with a comparable regional sponsorship, ticketing, and community pathways model to the Manawatu Jets.
• Canterbury Rams: Canterbury-based Sal's NBL team that directly competes with the Manawatu Jets, drawing on regional sponsorship and ticketing in a similar provincial New Zealand market structure.
• Auckland Tuatara: Sal's NBL franchise based in Auckland that competes in the same league under a similar sponsorship-driven, community-engaged operating model as the Manawatu Jets.
• Otago Nuggets: Otago-based Sal's NBL franchise operating under the same league structure, with parallel reliance on regional sponsorship tiers and community engagement to fund a professional basketball operation.
• Southland Sharks: Sal's NBL team from Southland that shares the same competitive structure, sponsorship-driven revenue model, and community identity positioning as the Manawatu Jets.
• Wellington Saints: One of the most successful and longest-standing teams in the Sal's NBL, directly competing in the same league as the Manawatu Jets and sharing the same community-based professional basketball model.

Broad incumbents

• New Zealand Breakers: New Zealand's flagship professional basketball franchise competing in Australia's NBL, providing a broader-market reference point for the scale and economics the Manawatu Jets operate within.
• Cairns Taipans: Australian NBL team from a regional city, comparable to the Manawatu Jets in operating from a smaller market while sharing the same professional basketball business model.
• Brisbane Bullets: Australian NBL franchise that offers a useful comparison for sponsorship tiering, broadcast leverage, and community programming at a larger market scale than the Manawatu Jets.

Regional players

• Wellington Phoenix: Wellington-based professional sports franchise in a different code (football), but highly comparable as a New Zealand regional professional team funded by tiered sponsorships, naming rights, and community engagement.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-manawatu-jets

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Manawatu Jets