The 2009/10 National Basketball League schedule has been released with the re-vamped competition set to tip-off in late September.

The opening game of the season will see title hopefuls the New Zealand Breakers host the Cairns Taipans at the North Shore Events Centre on Thursday, September 24.

The Perth Wildcats will begin their new campaign away to Wollongong on September 25, with the WA side having to wait a fortnight for their first home game against Gold Coast.

It will be a tough initiation for new coach Rob Beveridge and his team when they face Townsville and Cairns on consecutive nights (Oct 2 - 3) in north Queensland before returning to Perth.

It is the only time the Wildcats will be forced to play more than two games in succession on the road, with two away double-headers to contend with later in the season.

The September tip-off is a bold move by the NBL, with the dominant winter football codes reaching their climax at the same time.

But the prospect of going head-to-head with the AFL and NRL finals series' - which command a lot of attention from sports fans and media around the nation - does not bother Basketball Australia chief executive Larry Sengstock.

"Compiling a fixture is always a difficult process, but the eight clubs have worked closely with our office and at a feverish pace to produce a strong schedule for 2009/10 which we are all very pleased with," Sengstock said.

"This rapid turnaround of the fixture following the exciting events of last week means clubs now have reasonable lead times to sell their season ticket packages and promote their home games, which should help attract strong crowds.

"Whilst there is still plenty of work to be done before tip-off on September 24, we can now start to swing the focus back to where it should be - on our on-court product, which is truly world class."

The majority of Perth home fixtures at Challenge Stadium will tip-off on a Saturday night at 7pm (nine), with two Friday night and three Sunday afternoon games also scheduled.

The semi finals series will run between 19 - 28 February, with the three-game grand final series to be played between March 3 - 12.

PERTH SHAYNE HOPE