Ron Scott & Len Elmore Discuss the BBA’s Plans on Bloomberg

By Sam Neter on May 8, 2013

Activity from the British Basketball Association, the attempt to create a new commercially viable professional basketball league in the UK, has increased ten fold this year (check the press they have received since January here).

Despite multiple proposed launch dates over the last 6 or 7 years (or is it more?), nothing is yet to come to fruition (check an interview I did with the CEO Ron Scott back in 2010 here), leading to much criticism from basketball fans up and down the country.

The latest plan is to be operational by the end of this year, and then up and running as a league with competitive games by 2014.

I met with the BBA’s Chief Commercial & Operating Officer, David Paton, in January and their plans sounded impressive; enough for me to believe the wheels were in motion for it to actually happen. However, trying to raise tens of millions of pounds and find franchise owners (people who are willing to actually invest in British basketball?!) is no small task.

On Monday night, Scott and BBA Advisor Len Elmore spoke to Bloomberg Television about their plans and Scott was asked:

“You got people lined up and ready to fund the teams, give us some examples maybe…”

His reply? “Let’s take it back a second…”

Still a long way to go…

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix