How the BBL was founded – with Bob Hope – Ep. 57

By Sam Neter on June 4, 2020

In Episode 57 of the Hoopsfix Podcast, we sit down with BBL Commercial Director Bob Hope, who was instrumental of the forming of the league in 1987.

Hope has been involved with basketball club and league administration/commercial since the 70s, and was one of the main drivers for the clubs breaking away from the federation to form the BBL in the late 80s.

Since then, he has served as the commercial director of the league twice, been the UK rights holder for basketball producer Molten Sports and founded Bob Hope TV Productions Ltd to provide live tv coverage of the sport (as well as other minority sports).

Hear from Bob on:

How he first got into basketball as a youngster, making the switch from gymnastics
His early days of getting into basketball administration with the Exhall Eagles in the Warwickshire league
Founding and coaching the club Granwood (later Team Fiat and then Birmingham Bullets) and entering the National League in 1974)
The inter-county tournament that used to run at Loughborough which was predominantly made up of National League clubs representing as counties
The early signs of tensions between clubs and the federation – England Basketball – in the late 70s
What happened at the 1979 England Basketball AGM where the clubs – led by Bob Hope and David Last – voted out Chair Ken Charles to be replaced with Harry Keats
The negotiations that ensued and what happened for the BBL to be formed 8 years later with the clubs effectively breaking away
Raising money and sponsorship for the 1980 and 1984 Olympic qualifying GB teams
The formation of Basketball Marketing Ltd set up by England Basketball which Bob Hope became the Director of Sales and
Marketing for as he retired from coaching
How they could move over the sponsorship and TV contracts from Basketball Marketing Ltd to the BBL when the clubs broke away, with Hope joining the league in charge of commercial
All the secretive meetings clubs were having as breaking away to form the BBL became a reality
The differences between raising sponsorship in the early days of the BBL to now
Forming Bob Hope TV Productions Ltd in 1988 to produce live basketball TV coverage for the likes of Channel 4, the BBC, ITV2 and Sky
How he became the UK-rights holder for Molten Sports
Re-joining the BBL in 2016 as Commercial Director after having been retired for 1 month
Discovering the monetary value of the betting rights of the BBL – with over €16million (accidentally stated as €60million in the interview – 16million is the correct figure!) being betted on the league each year
How Premier League football is the biggest barrier to getting the BBL back on TV
The issues the league is having with Keemotion and it not being up to broadcast standard at the moment
How close the league is to signing a major commercial deal
The importance of social media and digital for the BBL’s growth and future sponsorship deals
How COVID-19 has impacted the league and what it could mean for the future
The growth of the league and aim to get to 16 franchises
And much, much more!

The show has been approved on iTunes – find it here and please subscribe to automatically receive new episodes straight to your phone/computer/tablet – if you could give us a review/rating it would be much appreciated to help the podcast spread far and wide, meanwhile it is also on Spotify here, Overcast, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

You can support Hoopsfix’s work in helping to grow British basketball on Patreon.

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