Cal Bruton has firmed as the man to lead the Canberra Cannons out of the financial mire after the New Zealand group that looked to have secured a National Basketball League licence withdrew its bid.

One day after it claimed it had deals with several Cannons players to relocate across the Tasman, the New Zealand-based consortium Proteam Holdings Limited withdrew its bid for the club.

NBL chief executive Peter Ali said Proteam withdrew because it instead wanted to concentrate on being granted its own licence, rather than acquiring one, from possibly next season.

Monday' developments - in which administrators Rangott and Slaven also withdrew - left new administrators Senatore, Brennan, Rashid with the task of advertising for new bidders and approaching previous ones.

That leaves Bruton, who quit as Cannons coach after an "totally unacceptable" offer from the NZ group, on the top of the list as the sole rival bidder.

"I'm feeling very good at the moment and I'll be pretty interested to see what the administrators have to say over the next couple of days," he said this afternoon.

Bruton has raised more than $1 million through Canberra businesses to keep the Cannons in the capital since he quit as coach.

He was confident his bid would succeed: "There's no question."

Administrator Eddie Senatore said he would start with Bruton's bid to determine if it satisfied all of the NBL licensee criteria.

With no other bidders, the Cannons appeared doomed if Bruton failed.

But while Senatore said it was too early to say what the future held, he said all parties had to move quickly.

"Given the season is half way completed time is of the essence, so hopefully we can have this resolved as soon as possible but given the time of the year it could be a little over a week," he said.

Ali said Proteam withdrew because it preferred to focus on a complete New Zealand bid.

Ali said claims Cannons players had refused to sign with Proteam and threats of legal challenges were incorrect.

"As a far as a legal challenge was concerned we thought we had taken the right approach about transferring the licence and it was just a case of people being misinformed," he said.

But Bruton, who rejected Proteam's claims it had signed several Canberra players, was not surprised the New Zealanders withdrew.

"I wasn't surprised because I think there's no one that comes into Canberra and takes our team because this is the Prime Minister's town and I just wanted to keep those Kiwis out," he said.

The NBL plans to reschedule the Cannons' next three games against the Wollongong Hawks, Townsville and the Brisbane Bullets, with a revised draw expected tomorrow.

But Bruton said the Cannons were hopeful of playing a game as early as Boxing Day as a fundraiser for the club and name the game in honour of the Cannons' much-loved assistant coach Herb McEachin, a Canberra local.

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