Mayor of London to create ‘Basketball Taskforce’

[LTfan]

Mayor of London to create ‘basketball taskforce’ to grow the game

www.hoopsfix.com/2024/09/mayor-of-london-to-create-basketball-taskforce-to-grow-the-game/

Perhaps a little too focused on bringing the NBA back to London (which itself isn't a bad thing), but could also be very positive for the future of the London Lions and the Super League Basketball.

[mac]

I'm not a fan of the NBA and rarely watch it but I like anything that raises the profile of the game.

[dexter]

There are 17 professional football teams in London. If basketball is really the UK's second most popular team sport there must be a market for 2 or 3 more SLB teams in London.

[SamH]

It's clearly not more popular than rugby and I doubt cricket. But football is so far out in front that isn't really a fair comparator. Some of those 17 teams are presumably lower league, so the equivalent would be to look at NBL teams in London (appreciate they're not fully professional, but its the closest we have). Of course we used to have the Towers and Leopards and there seemed to be plenty of market for those 2, but not sure 3+ would be good until the overall league is bigger. Lots of other cities with markets for basketball that haven't got anything now. Brighton used to regularly get 2500-3000 fans at home games, for starters!

[LTfan]

Sept 27, 2024 13:36:38 GMT SamH said:

It's clearly not more popular than rugby and I doubt cricket. But football is so far out in front that isn't really a fair comparator. Some of those 17 teams are presumably lower league, so the equivalent would be to look at NBL teams in London (appreciate they're not fully professional, but its the closest we have). Of course we used to have the Towers and Leopards and there seemed to be plenty of market for those 2, but not sure 3+ would be good until the overall league is bigger. Lots of other cities with markets for basketball that haven't got anything now. Brighton used to regularly get 2500-3000 fans at home games, for starters!

I totally agree, I can possibly see a market for multiple London teams in the future but right now the focus should be on strengthening (and repairing) the one London team we do have. And exploiting areas of the country that don't currently have one, such as Birmingham.   

[dexter]

Sept 27, 2024 13:36:38 GMT SamH said:

It's clearly not more popular than rugby and I doubt cricket. But football is so far out in front that isn't really a fair comparator. Some of those 17 teams are presumably lower league, so the equivalent would be to look at NBL teams in London (appreciate they're not fully professional, but its the closest we have). Of course we used to have the Towers and Leopards and there seemed to be plenty of market for those 2, but not sure 3+ would be good until the overall league is bigger. Lots of other cities with markets for basketball that haven't got anything now. Brighton used to regularly get 2500-3000 fans at home games, for starters!

I'm with you but every time someone makes that claim I like to quote them.

The Mayor of London official website.
"Basketball is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK and is the country’s second most popular team sport with more than 1.5m playing on a weekly basis.*"

www.london.gov.uk/Mayor-of-London-meets-with-NBA

Seriously though I would like there to be more SLB teams in London and the South East as well as the East Midlands because I think that's where basketball is already quite popular.

[SamH]

Perhaps that is correct in terms of participation, but it certainly isn't in terms of viewership, support, etc. at the pro level.

[dexter]

Sept 27, 2024 14:38:35 GMT SamH said:

Perhaps that is correct in terms of participation, but it certainly isn't in terms of viewership, support, etc. at the pro level.

I would put it in the top 10 team sports, but it could be in the top 5 team sports.