BBL ready to slam dunk its rival basketball competitions
British basketball has only ever featured at the Olympics when the team has participated as the host nation and has never qualified for the Fiba World Cup. A Sport England survey estimates the number of those participating in the sport in England has dropped by 100,000 since 2016.
In spite of this, however, the British Basketball League (BBL) last year attracted a major cash injection from private equity, selling a 45 per cent stake in the competition to Miami-based investment firm 777 Partners for around £7m.
Looking Down Under
There had been discussions with Formula 1 owners Liberty Media and other companies, including from the Middle East. But when Larry Kestelman, once owner of Melbourne United, invested AUS$7m into the Australian league for it to be worth over AUS$45m just five years later it showed how a smaller, focused plan can work just as well.
In the short number of months since the deal closed in December, the BBL has had initiatives rolled out with public bodies – the likes of whom withdrew funding in the last decade – as well as stripping away a salary cap for teams in a move designed to invite further investment.
“In spite of Covid-19, we had really great crowds, particularly the second half of the season generally across the league and we had all time record gates for our three big finals [10,000 at the cup final, a record crowd in the trophy and over 15,000 for the playoffs a the O2],” Kevin Routledge, director and board member of the BBL told City PM
“777 are a uniquely different private equity firm, very much focused on the long term, which is absolutely necessary when you look at the challenges we face both in ordinary business terms and other challenges.
“They now sit on board; there are three of their representatives on our board. There are always going to be cultural differences but the way we’ve tackled that has been very positive and we are looking for a cultural change so that is working out very well.”
777 and BBL
777 has acquired its stake in BBL as part of a wider sporting portfolio, which also includes leading BBL team the London Lions, as well as backing an ambitious project last year to get a Formula 1 street race in London.
“They’re driving us based on their experiences and they’ve been busy buying football clubs at the same time [including Sevilla, Genoa and Vasco da Gama] in parallel with their basketball input,” Routledge added.
“We’re seeing no evidence that we’re falling down their pecking order. All Americans believe they’re experts in basketball and are very strong basketball supporters so I don’t see that happening. I think they’re going up big learning curves, in terms of culture and football.”
And on the success of a deal that’s barely a year old? “There has been a here and now effect in that there’s a different view now on the value of basketball franchises already – we’re starting to see that effect,” Routledge said.