A new era dawns on the British hoops horizon as the Super League Basketball season begins its maiden voyage, guided by lessons learned from the final year of the former British Basketball League.
Frivolous spending to an extreme level by 777 Partners, who owned a 45 percent stake in the league with money that was reportedly loaned to them and not paid back, led the BBL to financial ruin as the league focused mainly on marketing the American audience, rather than focusing on its core base back home, almost alienating what they had.
Now, in its place are goals of sustainability, growth, investment, and hopefully, two more teams by the start of the 2025/26 season.
Those are the early targets of the principal owner of the Sheffield Sharks and interim chair of the SLB, Vaughn Millette, as the New York business entrepreneur wants basketball fans to embrace the country’s new league.
Caledonia Gladiators’ match up with Manchester Basketball, Newcastle Eagles hosting the Sharks, and the Bristol Flyers road trip to the Leicester Riders launches the Super League into official existence on Friday night.
“The goal now is to grow the level, the league, the appeal, the fan experience, engage with communities,” Millette said.
“But this has been a whirlwind nine weeks to get to this point, and I am really impressed with us getting it done. It feels good, and I am excited about the future of this league.”
The market is there to be taken advantage of. Basketball participation in the country is at its highest, with an estimated 1.5 million people playing the sport in a survey conducted by Basketball England.
The new TV deal with DAZN is a start. Allowing fans and aspiring players to watch all SLB games on the platform for free.
‘We are delighted to partner with DAZN for our global broadcast media rights,” Millette said.
“From our earliest conversations, we’ve been impressed by DAZN’s unwavering passion to promote and grow the sport of basketball. Bringing innovation and imagination to enable us to best serve our fans, the teams, and continuous broadcast coverage of the league.”
Aside from new deals and potential chapters to be written, Millette is aware of the stiff challenge that awaits as basketball in the UK recovers from its near-death experience after the British Basketball Federation terminated the BBL’s operating license in June.
With clubs in danger of liquidation, most notably the London Lions, who reached the semi-finals of the EuroCup – an elite-level European competition, second only to the EuroLeague – and its women winning the EuroCup Women trophy, the new British league had to work within a concise timeframe.
“I didn’t realize it was going to be so acute and turn into an 80-hour-a-week job out of the blue with the way things have unfolded, but there was something about it; there’s a lot of potential to it, and I’m just excited,” Millette said.
However, with the start of the new campaign now tantalizingly close, Millette wants the SLB to grow into what the BBL was last season, only with more thought, careful planning, and better long-term results.
That includes the possibility of more teams to add to the nine that will compete this year.
“We’ve had endless inquiries from new teams and some excellent investment groups, but this wasn’t a summer to make hasty decisions, so we went with the teams we had,” Millette revealed.
“Given the new license, we were all given an expansion plan to see if we can do that next year. We’ll probably look for two new teams to grow and be sustainable. Also, owners want to invest in academies too, to invest in the sport, and to invest in British basketball in general, and that’s the important thing for us.
“We’ve got a good group around the table now. We want to continue that, and we want the opportunity to do so.”
Photos: British Basketball League / Sheffield Sharks.
