Our head coach Nick Nurse is continuing his travels in the States but rest assured he will have plenty of news to digest when he returns.

There are major announcements due from the BBL, probably on Tuesday, and the details of these have been embargoed.

I can tell you however that the countdown clock at brightonbears.com will have to be adjusted as the season will start a week later than usual this time round.

We will be getting underway on the weekend of October 5-6 and finish two weeks later than last season on April 12-13.

Read into that what you will but one thing the extra week gives us is more scope to ensure games are all at weekends rather than in midweek.

Most clubs want to avoid midweek games. We managed that at home last season but had several away trips on Wednesday or Thursday nights.

You may be glad to hear there will be slightly less central venue basketball. Certain play-off fixtures will revert to club venues.

The clubs have taken many things into account when deciding this, including the fans' point of view.

We saw how it was last season, where everyone goes to Coventry and has to shift seats when the their team is playing.

The change could mean another home game. Alternatively it could see us on the road if we do not perform quite as well in the regular season but either way we will be playing at a proper basketball venue with a big crowd.

That will be better from a fan's point of view but clearly the later stages will still require a central venue both for neutrality and for television coverage.

The Trophy will be re-formated. An announcement is imminent but there will be some NBL involvement, as there will be in the National Cup.

Nick was keeping close tabs on the Oklahoma Storm as they clinched the USBL title.

It is a shame for Oklahoma that Kareem Abdul Jabbar decided to leave as soon as the season ended.

He was on a flight to Los Angeles the day after the final and clearly sees the Storm as a stepping stone. He certainly did himself no harm by the way he transformed the team.

Randy Duck, Albert White and Sterling Davis got on very well in Oklahoma. Of course Randy is coming back to us and I know Nick was talking to Sterling and Albert.

The plan is still to bring the trio back to form the core of the Bears' roster for next season.

I have spoken to Wilbur Johnson recently and he is very keen to play for the Bears again.

He would be coming by himself for the bulk of the season as his youngest daughter starts school in the States. I spoke to him for 10-15 minutes and I know Nick has been talking to him as well about a return.

It would not, at the moment, appear Mike Brown would be coming straight back to the Bears, although he has been doing a lot of stuff with the club recently. Mike is keen to play abroad and we want him to do the best he can for himself.

His position might change if we are accepted into European competition.

We expect an announcement in the near future but bear in mind that, even if we do not get one of the two slots allocated for BBL clubs, there may still be entry via a back door if another country do not take up their full allocation of places.

Nick is juggling the European application with his recruitment programme which makes it difficult. Expect things to become rather more clearcut over the next few days.

*Romek Kriwald is a director of the Brighton Bears.

This column is produced in association with Specsavers, No. 1 for eye tests in Brighton and Hove.