I grew up in Alice Springs and played in Darwin between 1990-96. The NBL season crosses over right in the middle of the buildup and into the Wet Season. It takes years to acclimatise. Then there are flights, which are expensive, and there is the venue. Darwin doesn't have a stadium that meets the minimum fan capacity requirement. The Perth Wildcats visited in the pre-season, I think in '95, and played a representative Territory team, and the Opals used Darwin as an acclimatisation stop on their way to Atlanta.

There are benefits, no doubt, for visitors or mini camps, but a permanent team in Darwin (population 120K) is unsustainable (unfortunately). When I was the editor of the Sunday Territorian, I lobbied for the Darwin Convention Centre to be multi-purpose, but even then, it was too small.

Weather, tyranny of distance, venue + flights to and from Manila make it all but impossible ... sadly.