British Basketball Federation could face second lawsuit in row with clubs
The embattled British Basketball Federation (BBF) could face a second round of legal action after the owners of Manchester Basketball warned they are still considering joining Super League Basketball (SLB) in suing the governing body.
Manchester Basketball chiefs have been left dismayed by the BBF’s decision last month to effectively block their participation in next season’s Basketball Champions League amid a bitter stand-off between the federation and the domestic league.
Manchester Basketball are still hopeful of playing in some form of European competition in 2025-26 but owner Ben Pierson told City PM that legal action remained an option.
“We had correspondence with them. I’m comfortable saying I did engage Freshfields on this and we have had dialogue. Whether it results in formal legal action from us is still in process. We have not ruled it out,” Pierson said.
Magic circle law firm Freshfields is already representing the SLB, which confirmed last week that it was suing the BBF over its decision to withdraw its licence to operate the top flight after just one year, further escalating the civil war in the British game.
The BBF told Manchester it could not endorse them to play in the Basketball Champions League as they were no longer part of an officially sanctioned national competition – a stance the club believe is both legally and morally wrong.
“I think it’s a pretty blatant violation of a lot of different laws, not the least of which is restraint of trade,” added Pierson, who established the club last year with the Sherwood Group.
“It just was such an egregious violation of what the BBF is supposed to do. We can have lawyers debate legality and license and ability to play in Europe and Fiba regulations and all that, but you really can’t debate the morality of the BBF – the defined purpose of growing the game of basketball – turning around and doing this.
“As offensive as some of this stuff has been the last three or four months in terms of how they’ve treated this licence situation, that to me was the final straw.”
SLB to go ahead despite BBF, say Manchester
Despite being stripped of their licence, SLB clubs insist the league will go ahead next season. “They’re not going to be able to stop us from running our businesses and putting on what we hope to be an even better product than last year,” Pierson said.
Manchester Basketball’s most likely route to European competition is thought to be via the ENBL, in which fellow SLB club Newcastle Eagles reached the final last season.
The BBF earlier this year awarded a 15-year licence to operate the British top division to GBBL, a company led by former NBA executive Marshall Glickman. The SLB refused to take part in the tender, deeming it illegal.
On the prospect of a reconciliation with the BBF, Pierson said: “I’m surprised it’s gone on for this long. I’m hopeful it resolves outside of the courts, because going into the courts would be yet another outcome that hurts both parties.
“However, it’s unclear to me yet what the resolution would be, since it feels like the BBF has already gone so far.”
The BBF has been approached for comment.