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…
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