Sir Keith Mills backs rival British basketball league GBBL
The proposed operator of a controversial new British basketball league, GBBL, has announced heavyweight backing from Sir Keith Mills and hopes to establish teams in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Edinburgh.
Mills, a key figure in securing and running the London 2012 Olympics, and US fund WestRiver Group have been named partners of GBBL, which was last month awarded a 15-year license to operate a league by the British Basketball Federation from 2026.
It is not clear, however, whether WestRiver Group, whose portfolio includes DocuSign and football experience Toca Social, has invested in GBBL, which is fronted by American Marshall Glickman and has faced questions about its funding. Mills, 75, is advising WRG.
But GBBL says it is in discussions with “very high-quality investors” who include “athletes, sports team owners and international family offices”.
The project still faces significant obstacles, with clubs in the existing top flight – Super League Basketball – united in their opposition to playing in a competition that they do not own and at war with the BBF over what they claim was an illegal tender process.
GBBL insists the door remains open for SLB clubs to join its competition, but has also declared its intention to invite applications from 10 teams to be based in locations including London, Birmingham, Yorkshire, Liverpool, Hampshire, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Coventry.
“We are thrilled that our friends at WRG and Sir Keith Mills are standing behind our long-term strategy to uplift the popularity of basketball in Great Britain,” said Glickman, a former president of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.
“We will set forth a broad range of criteria [for teams]. Most important, we want owners that are fully aligned with our strategy to grow the game from the grassroots to the elite level, and to provide fans with an incredible and affordable experience.”
Glickman also hinted that SLB clubs would be better placed to play in a putative NBA Europe if competing in the BBL-sanctioned league. “We anticipate that the clubs playing in pan-European leagues will also play in the GB domestic league,” a spokesperson said.
London Lions CEO Lenz Balan told City PM this month that the clubs remained opposed to any outside operator of a league.
“In the end, a league is nothing but its clubs,” he said. “And my personal perspective is that every professional league in the world is owned and operated by its clubs. My position on outside investment in the league is that that determination should be made by the clubs.”