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OPINION: Surely the BBL is a no brainer?

A statement by Basketball England has shocked the sport to it's core with the revelation that the current professional league the BBL could be stripped of that right as a review takes place.

Basketball England said: "A licence review committee has been set up to consider all options including but not limited to a competitive tender process and negotiation with the existing licensee of the professional basketball league, with a view to renewing existing arrangements."

 Add onto the fact we've seen a MASSIVE drop in participation and we've got a bit of a crisis on our hands.

 It seems bad news and basketball go hand in hand recently with the funding removal (although kind of in a better place), men's Eurobasket qualification failure and now this!

But what therefore are the options for Basketball England?

Well to be frank they seem quite limited; while the NBA mentioned potentially setting up a European league while they were over here earlier in January, it doesn't make sense for them to set up a British league and lets be honest, it won't happen.

So what of Premier League Basketball? Often heard but continuously in the development phase, they have said the following about the review (to BBC's Chris Mitchell):



 Although they did also comment that "Given all that has transpired this week in British basketball, PLB represents the new standard, we move ever closer!"  - (whatever that means).

On the rise there is the British Premier Basketball League but as that is literally fresh off the counter, they are still looking for teams to sign up at this stage!

So with the NBA a pipe dream, the PLB not ready and the BPBL brand new, there seems to be little alternative for British basketball other than to stick with the BBL.

Perhaps the EBL could somehow be integrated into the BBL somehow much like how Scottish Football has restructured.

We can only speculate as to why Basketball England has decided to make this announcement; perhaps they saw Mersey Tigers/Birmingham Knights winning no games? Perhaps they don't see improvement within the league? Perhaps it is an issue with BBL contracts or the lack of LIVE TV coverage? Would something like relegation/promotion being introduced have an affect?

The 6-month timing and the fact that the BBL weren't notified of the release from BE, means that it points towards mismanagement at least on some level.

While we await an update on the situation, we currently are left in limbo with a few people left to make a decision,

But it would appear logically that there is no alternative to the BBL.

Be Inspired.

(On a side note there are too many acronyms in British basketball).


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