Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic contest the preliminary final against the Sting. The Southland-based franchise emerged victorious over the Magic by 48–46 in a close contest: this was the final NBC match played by the franchise. The Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic were one of five New Zealand franchises named for the new trans-Tasman netball competition – eventually named the ANZ Championship – to start in 2008. Martin Ellis was appointed as the new CEO for the Magic franchise. But several organisational problems also emerged prior to the start of the new season: a row erupted over the composition of the board early in the
Bay of Plenty in the region struggled: the climate was ill-suited to sheep farming and the geography was inaccessible, further hindered by a lack of infrastructure. By the end of the century the population had started to dwindle. But after experimenting with different crops, settlers found success with dairy production. Dairy factories sprang up across the Bay of Plenty in the 1900s, with butter and cheese feeding economic prosperity throughout the early 20th century; local Māori continued to live on the fringe of this prosperity. Timber also became a major export in the 1950s, as kiwifruit did later. The present Bay of Plenty