Glasgow Rocks’ co-owner David Low has cast fresh doubt over the future of the BBL, in an interview on the MVP Cast.
The current league season remains postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic bringing a halt to the league, though Low – a former BBL Director – is fearful of more long-lasting damages to the sport.
“It’s a very difficult situation indeed,” he said. We’re going to have trouble having viable leagues until there’s a vaccine and we don’t know when that’s gonna be, could be 1 year, could be 2 years, that’s the time horizon I’m looking at.
“I think it’s a very delicate moment in time for the BBL, and I don’t think I’m the only person saying that, I might be the only person saying it publicly but I don’t think I’m the only one saying that and knows that.
“Because basically if you look at all sports leagues across the globe, all teams and clubs in those leagues, basically we’re all operating on a nil-revenue environment with no money coming in, for an indeterminate period of time.
“If your household is in that situation, you’ve got a problem. If you’ve no income coming into your league, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out you’re going to have a problem. This is the situation that BBL finds itself in, similar to the Scottish Football Association or English FA.”
The BBL regular season still had another month left with the league champions undecided, while the end-of-season finale at The O2, if it isn’t played, will lead to losses of upwards of £250,000.
“The league I think has got an acute problem because most of its revenue is end of season loaded, i.e. you’ve got your cups, you’ve got your playoffs and these are profit centres for the BBL and they are not going to take place this year, I’m pretty sure – I might be wrong but I suspect these events won’t take place at all.
“The other problem is an economic problem; if you have cash, or access to cash in a situation such as this, your prospects of surviving it are better than if you don’t have any cash or if you are carrying debt.
“Unfortunately the BBL is carrying debt, it owes £350,000 or so to six clubs and it doesn’t have any cash in the bank. So when you put all these things together, I’d be really worried about the BBL.”
Low also went on to give an explanation as to why he resigned from the BBL board, believing his critical nature caused friction with the other directors.
“I had a lot of ideas, I was very critical, a lot of the things I hd to say didn’t go down very well with the other directors. I don’t have a lot of time for the other BBL directors because I don’t think they are very good.
For the full interview with Mark Woods, check out the MVPCast in full, HERE.
0 comments