BBF Board Releases Statement on Future Direction - Hoopsfix.com

BBF Board Releases Statement on Future Direction

The new British Basketball Federation (BBF) Board has released a statement outlining its directional strategic priorities moving forward following its second Board meeting on 27 November.

The BBF Board, which will lead the sport in Britain moving forward with a confederated approach of the home nations, is now in the process of appointing a facilitator who will help it develop this approach.

Wide stakeholder engagement and consultation will be a key element, with the intention to hold a stakeholder conference to be an integral part of the process. The aim is to complete the work by the spring of 2016.

However, ahead of this process, the BBF believes it is essential that the sport collaborates to address a number of urgent issues to help create the platform for the strategy and for growth.

The BBF will now be the body that will sanction the new professional league structures from October 2016, taking over from Basketball England and will lead the development of:

1) the new league licences in consultation with BBL and WBBL clubs and;
2) the approach to the sale of the main TV and commercial rights.

In agreeing the next steps to develop the priorities both the current and incoming Chairs met recently with FIBA to provide an update on progress and received backing from the FIBA General Secretary.

Patrick Bauman, FIBA General Secretary, said:

“FIBA is fully supportive of the approach that the BBF Board is adopting and we encourage all parties to engage with the BBF in the interest of the sport.”

The statement also added the BBF Board intends to recruit another Director to widen the skills and experience available, increasing representation from those with experience in the areas of Finance and Elite Sports coaching.

Meanwhile, the BBF will be applying for funding in the Tokyo Investment cycle under the Emerging Sports category.

The BBF believes that this is an essential category and especially for team sports development and urged UK Sport to allocate some of its World Class Performance Programme funds to sports with appropriate plans under this band.

From January 2016, the BBF Board will be led by Independent Chairman, Nick Humby who joins the other Independent Directors, Ian Curryer, Alan Gilpin and Steve Elworthy.

The Home Nations nominate Directors to serve on the BBF Board. These are Jeff Jones (Basketball England), Lucy Witt (Basketball Wales) and Andrew Warrington (Basketball Scotland). Roger Moreland and Bill McInnes also serve as Transitional Directors and other appointments may be made in due course.

The BBF are preparing for the entry of GB U16 and U18 teams in 2017, as part of the strategic planning process, with the BBF taking up FIBA membership from the three Home Nations (Basketball England, Basketball Scotland, and Basketball Wales) on 01 October 2016.

The BBF also stated they will be making an announcement shortly about the Men’s coaching positions, leaving questions about whether Joe Prunty will remain at the helm of the Senior Men, and Doug Leichner in charge of the U20s.

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