The Premiership model is a highly successful one, but can it be readily extended to other sports? Premiership clubs could set up professional basketball teams to play in a new British league under their football brand names as part of a US-led $25m plan launched next week. US owners of clubs at Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester United are investor targets of the new British Basketball Association, led by a group of former US National Basketball Association executives and US businessmen.
The Premiership model is a highly successful one, but can it be readily extended to other sports? Premiership clubs could set up professional basketball teams to play in a new British league under their football brand names as part of a US-led $25m plan launched next week. US owners of clubs at Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester United are investor targets of the new British Basketball Association, led by a group of former US National Basketball Association executives and US businessmen. The BBA said that it had tried to co-operate with the existing British Basketball League but now intends to set up its own league – initially of eight teams in big cities playing 42 games a season – to start in November 2010. The $25m would enable BBA clubs to pay between five and 10 times the wages paid in the BBL and to market the game in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics. Basketball is one of the three big sports in the US alongside baseball and American football. There it relies a lot on television rights as the number of spectators you can feasibly get into a court is limited by football standards. Ron Scott, chief executive of the BBA, said the UK was ‘the last uncharted territory’ of basketball and that the game was primed for the type of resurgence it experienced in Spain after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
That this is a serious plan is shown by the fact that the promoters have recruited Keith Harris, chairman of investment bank Seymour Pierce, and a leading football dealmaker, to approach UK investors. The launch of the scheme was tied to coincide with a NBA pre-season friendly between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz at London’s 02 arena, the third year the NBA has showcased its teams to raise its UK profile. A number of football stars were spotted at the game. The NBA has sold its UK television rights to ESPN as part of its plans to expand the game in Europe. It wants to establish teams within eight years to compete in its league.
It is interesting to compare this effort to market basketball with the attempts to revive ice hockey in Britain throughout the Elite league. Despite some Sky TV coverage, the finances of the league have been shaky. Some franchises have disappeared and others have had to be funded. The size of the league this season has diminished from ten to eight teams. Following the demolition of the London Arena, there is no capital city team or one anywhere in the Home Counties. Much depends on the availability of rinks with sufficient spectator capacity and good quality ice (historically this was influenced by the location of Canadian forces in the Second World War). The players are semi-professional and are often recruited from Canada or the Scandinavian countries, having failed to make the major league grade there. There is a trade off between support for football and ice hockey. Many spectators at my local team, Coventry Blaze, are disenchanted Coventry City supporters.
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