Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic absence, to cover the loss of young defender Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick. Several young players have been signed on with development contracts. The franchise is administered by Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic Franchise Ltd, formed in 1999 when the Waikato Wildcats and Bay of Plenty Magic merged. The franchise catchment area covers the two netballing regions of Waikato and the Bay of Plenty, and both Netball Waikato and Netball Bay of Plenty have two directors on the club's eight-member board. The regional netball bodies also report to Netball New Zealand, while the franchise reports to Trans Tasman Netball Ltd (TTNL), which oversees the
Radio Bay of Plenty the station. Its original slogan included the words "from the Eastern Bay of Plenty, wherever you may go, the entertainment's better when you dial 1 2 4 0". Broadcasting Minister H.J. Walker officially opened the station at 10.30am on Wednesday 30 June 1971. It initially broadcast 19.5 hours of live original local content from 5.00am to 12.30am each day with additional 24-hour licenses granted during some summer holiday seasons. The station was not allowed to broadcast advertising on Sundays and did all its own local and international news and sports reporting. It gave away one of the country's first colour