Basketball New Zealand chief executive Iain Potter is concerned Basketball Otago will not have the capacity to stage future events.
Potter's comments come in the wake of revelations BBO is facing a debt of more than $100,000.
In particular, he is worried the organisation will not be able to stage the New Zealand under-13 championships scheduled for October.
''Now we have this information, we will need to clarify with them their capacity to carry out the event,'' he said.
''It is a major event on our calendar.''
As far as Basketball Otago chairman Ricky Carr was concerned, ''it should be business as usual''.
He spoke with Potter yesterday, after the Otago Daily Times had interviewed Potter.
''I wouldn't say Basketball New Zealand was concerned,'' Carr said.
Potter, though, was not aware how bad Basketball Otago's financial situation was until he was contacted for comment in the morning.
''I spoke to Markham [Brown, BBO's resigning general manager] a few weeks ago and he indicated there were some financial issues that they were working through. But that was largely the extent of it.
''I was not aware of the degree of the issues or where the issues stem from.
''From time to time, there are associations which reach the brink. That has happened periodically and regularly, unfortunately.But this is the first one in the last couple of years.
''While basketball is doing very well in terms of more and more kids wanting to play and are playing, it has quite a fragile national infrastructure.
''The associations do not tend to be big if you compare them to rugby, netball or cricket.
''It is a concern, because you can only be as strong as your members.''
Potter described BBNZ's own financial position as fragile, and said the national body was not in a position to provide any relief.
It has had to make changes to its levy structure to generate more income from its members. It used to charge a flat fee of $1500, but now applies a 10% levy on all team fees.
''We're not strong, but we've gone up from anaemic.
''We've managed to record a couple of modest surpluses in the last few years which has brought us back from the brink. But, unfortunately, we are not in a position where we can help out.''
