| Current season or competition: 2011–12 British Basketball League season |
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The BBL logo, featuring the Molten GG7 match ball |
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| Sport | Basketball |
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| Founded | 1987 |
| Commissioner | Paul Blake |
| No. of teams | leicester riders and 10 others |
| Country(ies) | United Kingdom |
| Continent | FIBA Europe (Europe) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Mersey Tigers (1st title) |
| Most titles | Kingston Kings Newcastle Eagles (4 titles each) |
| TV partner(s) | Sky Sports |
| Official website | www.BBL.org.uk |
The British Basketball League, often abbreviated to the BBL, is the premier men's professional basketball league in the United Kingdom. The BBL runs two knockout competitions alongside the league championship; the BBL Cup and the BBL Trophy.
The BBL is not to be confused with the English Basketball League (EBL) or the Scottish Basketball League (SBL), which effectively form the second tier of British basketball. There is currently no promotion or relegation between the EBL, SBL and BBL because of the franchise system in use in the BBL, although Plymouth Raiders, Worcester Wolves and Durham Wildcats amongst others have all been elected from the EBL in recent years.
The league currently consists of 11 teams with representation from both England and Scotland. The 2011 Champions were Mersey Tigers, while Guildford Heat were the league's most recent representatives in Europe, competing in the ULEB Cup during the 2007-08 season.
Member franchises of the BBL jointly own the league,[1] and a chairman is elected by the teams to oversee league operations. The current Chairman is Paul Blake,[2] the Managing Director of Newcastle Eagles. The head offices are located in Leicester,[3] where the country's oldest team, the Leicester Riders is also based.
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The British Basketball League burst onto the British hoops scene in 1987 as the game's foremost clubs opted for a franchise-based competition without promotion or relegation. Seeking to improve the sport's image through greater professionalism, the BBL fast became the benchmark for quality competition in the UK
In 1988 Portsmouth emerged from the pack to clinch the inaugural BBL Championship title but the following year saw the famous Kingston Kings side of the late 80s and early 90s win the first of three back-to-back league crowns.
The 1990s also saw an exciting growth in popularity and commercialism of the league. Television crews and exciting sponsors such as Peugeot, Lego, Playboy and Budweiser came flooding in, as did the crowds. The Manchester Giants opened the 1995-96 season in front of a record 14,251 fans at the NYNEX Arena against the London Leopards - a record crowd that stood for a basketball game until 2006 when the NBA started staging pre-season games at the O2. London Towers, Crystal Palace and the Greater London Leopards ushered in an era of capital success in the mid-1990s and in 1999 a Conference format was introduced, which was mirrored by the NBL the following season. For three seasons the cream of the north and the south followed an American-style system with London Towers invincible in the South.
A single-league BBL returned in 2002 and five different franchises have won the Championship title in the five years since. However the new millennium also saw a series of downfalls for the BBL. The collapse of ITV Digital cost the league dear, with many franchises struggling to recover from the lost revenue that the £21 million contract was providing. Long established franchises such as the Giants, the Leopards, Derby Storm, Thames Valley Tigers and Birmingham Bullets have all dropped out in the years since, never to be seen again.
The membership crisis brought about the addition of new franchises such as Guildford Heat (Formed by fans of the defunct Thames Valley Tigers) and elected teams from the lower-tier English Basketball League, like the Plymouth Raiders, both making a refreshing impact on the old boys, with the Heat qualifying for the post season playoffs in 2005-06, their rookie season.
During the same season Newcastle won 30 of their 40 regular season league fixtures to clinch the League Championship crown - the previous season saw the Eagles win 31 matches but lose out to Chester Jets in the final week, by just two points. That title was one of four pieces of silverware won during the dubbed "clean-sweep" season of 2005-2006, the Eagles marching on to claim the BBL Cup, BBL Trophy and Playoff's - the complete set.
Guildford Heat, only in their second season in 2006-2007, stole the headlines by storming to their first League title coupled with the BBL Cup, to mark a historic moment for the young club and its fans. Plymouth Raiders also put themselves on the map by overcoming their underdog tags to beat Newcastle on their own court in the BBL Trophy final, their first silverware as a BBL team. Newcastle managed to redeem themselves at the very end, after a poor season, by their standards, by claiming the Playoff title against rivals Scottish Rocks.
League chairman and Newcastle Managing Director Paul Blake is marketing the game at home and abroad, and after successfully gaining representation in the ULEB Cup with Guildford Heat's appearance in 2007-08 the league is slowly recovering from a low ebb.
There is a strong emphasis on recruiting and developing homegrown talent with a view to supporting Team GB's London 2012 medal bid. With British NBA star Luol Deng committing to the team [4] and various other stars eligible to also play for Britain, including Ben Gordon, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, and Joel Freeland.[5]
The British Basketball League is an independent company owned by its member clubs. Each club - or franchise as it is known - has an equal shareholding in the BBL and a representative on the Board of Directors,[6] thus is part of all decision-making regarding League policies, issues, and rules. Paul Blake, of Newcastle Eagles is the current elected Chairman. The following club representative's on the Board of Directors are:[7]
The regular season of the Championship, which runs from October to April, operates as a league format. Teams play each other on three occasions throughout the season, resulting in a thirty game campaign for each team, meeting each of their counterparts once at home, once away, and once home or away in the 11-team league structure.[8] Matches are played according to FIBA rules and games consist of four quarters of 10 minutes each. Two points are awarded for a win,[8] with the game going into overtime if the score is tied at the final buzzer - unlimited numbers of 5 minute overtime periods are played until one team is ahead when a period ends.
In the league season, team schedules are not identical and neither are matchdays, with games scheduled mainly around venue availability. Because of this teams may find themselves playing a series of four or five home games consecutively followed by a straight set of away games. As the regular season is also particularly short, many games are played over weekends as 'doubleheaders', whereby a team will play games (possibly a home and away game) on consecutive days, something that is not commonplace in British sports, although often seen in the National Basketball Association and other American sports.
Following the completion of the Championship regular season, the top eight placed teams advance into the post-season Play-offs which usually take place during April.[9]
The post-season Play-offs sees the top eight teams from the Championship regular season advance into a knockout competition starting with the Quarter-finals. Teams are seeded dependent on their final positioning within the regular season league standings, so first-place faces eighth-place, second versus seventh-place, third against sixth-place and finally fourth plays the fifth-placed team. Both the Quarter-finals and the succeeding Semi-finals are played over a two-game series (home & away) with the higher seed having choice of home advantage in the either the 1st or 2nd leg - aggregate scores will determine the victors.[8][10]
The culmination of the post-season is the grand final, which sees the two Semi-final winners play a one-game event to determine the eventual victors of the Play-offs. Traditionally held during the final weekend of April, the showpiece event is held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.[10]
The BBL Cup is one of two peripheral competitions operated by the BBL during the regular season. The tournament emerged from a breakaway of the National Cup and was contested for the first time in 2003-04, when Sheffield Sharks were the inaugural winners. It is a pure knockout competition featuring all BBL-member clubs, with the final hosted at the prestigious National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, usually in early January. With the withdrawal of the Essex Pirates for the 2011/2012 season it has been confirmed that SBL side Edinburgh Kings will take their place in the fixture against Glasgow Rocks.
The BBL Trophy started out as the Anglo-Scottish Cup in 1985 was initially a competition between teams from both the English and Scottish leagues. It was rebranded as the League Trophy in 1987 following the reorganisation and amalgamation of the leagues. The tournament begins with a regional group format made up of all BBL-member clubs plus an invitee from the EBL. The winners of each group go through to play each other in a two-legged Semi-final, with the two winners then going on to the Final, which for the 2011 edition was held at the O2 Arena.
As of 2011 no British teams compete in European competition. To compete in the third tier EuroChallenge competition, clubs must play in arenas with a capacity of at least 2,000 people (3,000 if they reach the Final Four stage).[11] Currently the only BBL team that meet the Eurochallenge requirements are the Newcastle Eagles, with the Glasgow Rocks awaiting construction of their new 5,000 seater stadium as part of the city's Commonwealth Games bid.
| Team | City/Area | Arena | Established | Joined | Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheshire Jets | Chester | Northgate Arena | 1984 | 1991 | Paul Smith |
| Durham Wildcats | Durham | Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre | 2005 | 2011 | David Elderkin |
| Glasgow Rocks | Glasgow | Kelvin Hall | 1998* | Sterling Davis | |
| Guildford Heat | Guildford | Surrey Sports Park | 2005 | Creon Raftopoulos | |
| Leicester Riders | Leicester | John Sandford Centre | 1967 | 1987 | Rob Peternostro |
| Mersey Tigers | Liverpool | Knowsley Leisure & Culture Park | 2007 | Tony Garbelotto | |
| Milton Keynes Lions | Milton Keynes | Lions Arena | 1977* | 1987 | Mike New |
| Newcastle Eagles | Newcastle upon Tyne | Sport Central, Northumbria University | 1976* | 1987 | Fab Flournoy |
| Plymouth Raiders | Plymouth | Pavilions | 1983 | 2004 | Gavin Love |
| Sheffield Sharks | Sheffield | The EIS | 1991 | 1994 | Atiba Lyons |
| Worcester Wolves | Worcester | University of Worcester | 2000 | 2006 | Paul James |
League rules currently allow for each team to have a maximum of three "import" players - from outside of the European Union (EU) - whilst the remaining players on the roster must have citizenship of an EU country, either by birth or by naturalisation.[21] The current ruling was integrated at the beginning of the 2006-07 season, reverting from the previous law which allowed four imports along with naturalised players. Because of this previous rule, it was possible for a team to field an entirely American starting five, which was often the case.
With the 2012 Olympics in mind, an attempt to develop home grown talent has taken incredible steps forward in British basketball in development of more British players. Contributing to this cause, the BBL has implemented a new ruling which would have been in effect from the start of the 2007-08 season, whereby only two imported (non-EU) players are permitted in each roster. However, with an expansion of three more franchises for the 2007-08 season, the decision to permit only two non-EU players was revoked because of the lack of available home-grown talent currently available.
According to BBL rules, teams must field no more than six import (non-EU) players in any one season, though only three are allowed to be registered to a roster at any one time. Signings are allowed to be made throughout the pre-season and during the regular season until the league's transfer deadline, which is on 28 February, or if during a leap year, the date is then 29 February.
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Most British Basketball fans first port of call for the latest basketball information is the Internet with sites like the BBL's official website, plus MVP 24/7, Britball and Inside the Game who provide fans with latest news and results including live commentary from key games.
Basketball receives little national media coverage in the United Kingdom. Some national newspapers list results and occasionally provide short summaries of the league's news but more extensive coverage remains minimal. There was a small surge in interest during the 2005-06 season when many national newspapers such as The Sun reported that former NBA player Dennis Rodman had signed for Brighton Bears only weeks after being evicted from Celebrity Big Brother.[22] The press attention quickly faded after 'Rodmania' had died down following his three game appearance for the Southcoast franchise.
Coverage in the towns and cities where BBL clubs are based is more extensive. Newspapers such as The Plymouth Herald, Sheffield Star, The Glaswegian, Glasgow Herald, Daily Record, Leicester Mercury, Newcastle Chronicle and the Worcester News have dedicated basketball reporters who cover the local team.
The League is broadcast on Sky Sports throughout the season, with both delayed coverage and live games shown each week. The League is into its second year of its Sky Sports coverage deal[23] which was announced in October 2010 and marked the return of BBL action on Sky Sports after a 9-year gap.[24]
The history of television coverage of the BBL is extremely minimal and sparodic. During the 2007-08 season international broadcaster Setanta Sports saw one game a week shown live on Setanta Sports 2.[25] The coverage proved a ratings success and it was hoped that live televised games would continue during the 2008-09 season, however no deal was ever reached.
In 2006, League officials signed a £2.5 million broadcasting rights agreement with MKTV to provide coverage of 40 live games per season.[26] However only two matches were screened and the deal eventually collapsed when the channel closed. Though the BBL Cup final had been broadcast live over the internet two months previously, by UKTV, this was the first time in five years that the BBL was screened live on television, since the collapse of ITV Digital in 2002. Before then, the league also enjoyed coverage from Channel 4 in the 1980s and Sky Sports from 1995 to 2001, where audiences peaked at around 150,000.[27]
Bold indicates active BBL players.
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