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
Radio Bay of Plenty is also a Saturday Morning Sports Preview programme with Tony Kirby. The network carries and contributes to national news bulletins produced by NZME Radio through Newstalk ZB. 1XX still operates as a completely local radio station today. One Double X is the emergency broadcaster for much of the Bay of Plenty, with sirens and civil defence services encouraging people to tune into the station for emergency information. In 2013, the station had to respond to a false alarm that prompted several people to listen to station or contact the studio for more information. Bayrock is an album rock format radio