Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic featured franchises for the first time, with the overall aim of increasing the public profile of the sport in New Zealand. The inaugural competition was contested between ten teams, including the Waikato Wildcats and the Bay of Plenty Magic. At the end of the first season both teams finished at the bottom of the ladder, with the Wildcats 9th and the Bay of Plenty Magic last. Both teams decided to merge for the 1999 season: a new franchise was developed adopting the team name from Bay of Plenty and the colours of Waikato, becoming the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic. Bay
Bay of Plenty is emerging as a major regional source of electricity. Tourism is the other notable industry, accounting for 15% of the region's GDP from March 2000 to 2004. Overall economic growth in the Bay of Plenty averaged 2.1% between March 2000 and 2004, compared with the national rate of 3.5%, although per capita real GDP growth in the five years to March 2003 matched the national growth rate at an averaged 2.3%. In the 2006 Census, the median annual income was $22,600, below the national median of $24,400. Further, 45.4% of people aged 15 years or older earned an annual income