Taranaki Airs

Team history

A New Plymouth side debuted in the inaugural Conference Basketball League (CBL) season of 1981, finishing as runners-up. They were runners-up in the CBL Northern Conference in 1983 before winning the CBL championship in 1984. The team was promoted to the National Basketball League (NBL) for 1985, originally called the Bulls. In 1992, as the New Plymouth Bears, they became regular season winners for the first time. The franchise rebranded to Taranaki in 1994 and then to the Oilers in 1998, withdrawing after the 1999 season. Taranaki returned to the NBL in 2003 as the Mountainairs. The team endured winless seasons in 2009 and 2015, won eight games in 2016, and then won only 10 of 54 games from 2017 to 2019. In September 2019, significant debt threatened withdrawal from the 2020 NBL season, but naming rights partner Steelformers intervened the following month. The team was renamed from Mountainairs to Airs in December 2021. In 2022, the Airs finished atop the regular season with a 12–6 record, becoming minor premiers for the second time in franchise history. In September 2023, Media8 Sports, an Australian sports media company, acquired the team.