Being the face of a BBL franchise – with Tayo Ogedengbe – Ep. 71

By Sam Neter on September 10, 2020

For episode 71 of the Hoopsfix podcast, we sit down with Tayo Ogedengbe, 12 year BBL veteran, England international and the face of the Surrey Scorchers franchise.

Ogedengbe has been one of the best and most consistent British players in the BBL for a number of years, having made his debut in 2007-8 with London Capital under Steve Bucknall before representing Guildford Heat, Glasgow Rocks, plus a season in France with Calais, London Lions, and then signing with the Surrey Scorchers in 2015/16 as their franchise player, where he has remained since.

His role with Scorchers goes beyond purely on-court as a player, and he is involved in a lot of decision making with the franchise.

In this 90 minute episode, hear from Tayo on:

His ‘brand ambassador’ role with the Surrey Scorchers
The inception of the Surrey Scorchers franchise and the vision for his place with the franchise
How many years he thinks he has left playing
What he sees himself doing when he finishes playing
The change he has seen in the BBL over the decade he has been playing in it
Areas he would like to see the BBL improve
His take on the All-Stars Championship
When he found out last season was going to be cancelled due to COVID-19
The need for a player’s union
His thoughts on the coming BBL season and the potential impact of COVID-19
Surrey’s training ‘bubble’ that has seen numerous players compete as lockdown eased
Joel Freeland and whether we could see him getting involved with the Scorchers
His relationship with Puma and involvement with other brands
The commercial development of British basketball
His early playing days with Ealing Tornadoes
Winning Midnight Madness and as a result getting a place at Canarias Basketball Academy
Starting his time in the BBL with London Capital under Steve Bucknall
Playing under Creon Raftopoulos – initially at Guildford Heat – and their relationship to this day
Scratching the itch to play abroad and doing a year in France with Calais
Whether he has any regrets about not spending more time overseas
His thoughts on the Scorchers’ roster this coming season and an overall season preview
The goals he wants to achieve before retiring
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.m

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