British Basketball Association to Launch New Premier Competition

The British Basketball Association (BBA) has today announced further plans to establish the UK’s premier professional basketball competition.

Capitalising on the growing interest in basketball across the UK, adiposity the nationwide league will showcase leading British players alongside international basketball talent and provide a timely boost for the sport in the country. 

The development of the league will be spearheaded by the BBA Chief Executive Officer, Ron Scott, and newly-appointed Chief Commercial & Operating Officer David Paton who joins from Grant Thornton where he led the company’s Sports Advisory Group.

Paton and his team at the BBA have started to actively market the league franchises to businesses and entrepreneurs who are interested in tapping into a sport that enjoys an avid and growing fanbase in Britain. Basketball is currently the fourth highest participation team sport for ages 16 and over, and is the number two sport for team sports played in secondary schools in the UK.

With an initial pool of eight franchised teams, each covering a major UK city, the BBA aims to stage its first pre-season game in October 2014 with the first league game following in November 2014. The BBA will then have the option of increasing the number of franchises to 14 depending on the level of demand.

The BBA management team operates from offices in both London and the US and is formed of business, marketing and basketball experts, including John Amaechi who, as Co-Director, will provide counsel on specialist basketball matters.   

Ken Olisa OBE, Chairman of BBA, said: “There’s an established and fast growing basketball fanbase in the UK and, with a mix of star talent and the best in sport entertainment, I’m confident the BBA league matches will become key dates in the sporting calendar. We’re passionate about complementing what the NBA stands for globally and we have the right management team in place and an inviting business proposition that we hope will attract considerable interest.”

David Paton, Chief Operating and Commercial Officer, BBA, said: “We’re extremely excited about realising our ambitious but realistic vision to create the UK’s leading professional basketball league. The BBA league will deliver the sport in a new and exciting way and make basketball more accessible than ever before nationwide, to live and televised audiences. ”