Super League Basketball: Sustainability and consistency in focus as new league shares broadcast plans By Jo Ruddock
Friday, October 4, 2024 - 10:08
Print This Story
Following the demise of the British Basketball League (BBL) in the summer, the all-new Super League Basketball (SLB) tipped off last week (27 September) with the aim of being a more sustainable league that will help the sport to develop in the UK.
Nine clubs are competing in the inaugural season - the Bristol Flyers, Caledonia Gladiators, Cheshire Phoenix, Leicester Riders, London Lions, Manchester Basketball, Newcastle Eagles, Sheffield Sharks, and the Surrey 89ers - which culminates in the Play-offs in May next year. These clubs wholly own the league and, after the BBL, whose largest shareholder was an external investor, had its licence terminated over concerns around its financial position, the focus is very much on ensuring they are financially stable and able to help grow the sport.
Speaking ahead of the first Trophy games on Friday 27 September, Lisa Knights, CEO, Bristol Flyers, explains: At the end of the day, an elite pro league is nothing without the clubs and if you don't have a licence to play, then you can't do your business. That was the starting point for the league, and what I've been most impressed by and what I've witnessed since I've been part of SLB, is how united all the clubs are. They all came together and said, right, how do we work?'
The BBL's licence was revoked at the conclusion of last season, meaning clubs had a matter of weeks to form a new league to be ready in time for a September start.
We officially started the league when we won the interim licence from the British Basketball Federation, and [BBF chair] Chris Grant did a sterling job in terms of making that decision; he acted swiftly and always said that without the clubs there is no league. The fact that all the clubs pulled together emphasised that. I think his main driver was, there's X number of weeks before the start of a season, and clubs are going to need time to get a new season up and running. So the starting point was winning the interim licence and then the next thing was right, what are we going to call ourselves' and Super League Basketball came about. We launched the logo, and everyone seemed to like it. It is a new dawn, a new era, and the choice and the colourways reflect that.
From commercial partnerships and fixtures to new club ownerships and production planning, there's been a lot to work though for the SLB team in the past few months.
Knights adds: One of the things that everyone was keen on was growing a financially sustainable league and what has been really interesting is the new ownerships that have come into the league as well. There have been some big changes with teams like Sheffield, Cheshire, Manchester and London all having new ownership. Three of those with US principal owners, and London with European, all coming from very credible, strong and sustainably financial backgrounds. It's been great for the new league to have this kind of investment into clubs and have them sit alongside the likes of the Lansdown family [who own Bristol Flyers], and the Timoney's at Caledonia Gladiators - both of whom were, prior to that, the most significant investors into the professional league.
We wanted to deliver a consistent level of good coverage, but to also do it in a sustainable way, because we all know broadcast isn't cheap. Being able to announce DAZN as our partner was a massive part of that
In terms of partnerships, the big news recently was DAZN acquiring exclusive global broadcasting rights to the league, meaning all men's games will be aired for free to audiences worldwide. In total more than 200 games across the Trophy, League, Cup and Play-offs will be broadcast live.
The broadcast deal that we've done is important because sitting on DAZN you've got the American audience, because they've got the NFL rights, they've got the boxing rights, that's great, but we've signed just as France's National Basketball League (LNB) lite announced that it is also partnering with DAZN. So you've got the Italian and the French elite men's basketball leagues, plus DAZN being the home of FIBA live streaming with its Courtside 1891 offering and us all sitting alongside each other with this great basketball content all in one place. It's about building that centralised home for basketball and being able to talk to an already bought-in audience. It's tapping into that wider audience of basketball fans in Europe as well as globally.
SLB has also announced a production partnership with EMG / Gravity Media and Brandvox. While Brandvox will handle the majority of the live game coverage, EMG / Gravity Media will look after around a quarter of the games and the league's video on-demand content.
Brandvox were looking after the league from a streaming perspective a few years ago and they're really well respected in that space in terms of being really nimble and agile. They're one of the smaller OBs and it helps that they're all basketball fans. They really wanted to work with us and develop the best offering for fans, Knights adds.
I'm also really pleased SLB is going to have its own half-hour highlights show, produced by EMG / Gravity Media, which will launch towards the end of the month, as the Trophy competition finishes and we go into the league proper. I've worked with EMG / Gravity Media through my connection with Bristol City, and was familiar with how they've approached that, in terms of producing the Women's Football Show for the Barclays Women's Super League. I'm excited to see this be developed and for fans to be able to watch an SLB show in one consistent place
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/07/2026
Zixi, a leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) today announced a strategic new integration to deliver ...
16/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Capture Immersive Flight for New Cirrus App
Brie Clayton July 15, 2026
0 Comments
Leader in Personal Aviation taps URSA Cin...
16/07/2026
XenData Announces LTO Archive Appliances with both File and S3 Object Storage In...
15/07/2026
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is a big deal for DAZN, which has distribution rights in three markets: Italy, Spain, and Japan. Each requires a different editorial app...
15/07/2026
As sports-media organizations manage rapidly growing content libraries and incre...
15/07/2026
HBS director of digital Johannes Franken talks SVG Europe through the operation built to serve FIFA World Cup 2026 rights holders remotely from Stratford, east ...
15/07/2026
IBC has unveiled the conference program for IBC2026, with this year's event ...
15/07/2026
Software-defined wideband RF platform supports 96-kHz monitoring, streamlined fr...
15/07/2026
New AI-powered module enables broadcasters and content owners to extract dialogu...
15/07/2026
Weeklong gathering at EBU headquarters will test new IPMX capabilities and expand certified product ecosystem...
15/07/2026
Force Tech has announced the appointment of Bryan Adams, CTS, as Vice President of Integration. Adams will oversee AV and broadcast integration project delivery...
15/07/2026
USA Sports has announced an exclusive English-language agreement with the Bundes...
15/07/2026
ITV Sport's FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage has been produced from one of the m...
15/07/2026
Program will provide professional camera kits, training, and technical support to participating local newsrooms...
15/07/2026
San Francisco church becomes first U.S. deployment of the 2 M/E production switcher...
15/07/2026
Former ESPN and NFL Network executive to advise startup league on media, distribution, technology, and fan engagement...
15/07/2026
The Houston-based RSN is the live-game home of the Astros and Rockets...
15/07/2026
Launched alongside new FreqSoft installer
Designed to bridge the gap between hardware and software, Freqport's FreqInOut FO1 unit provides a simple way ...
15/07/2026
Save up to 55% on software until 23 July 2026
Expressive E have just launched their Summer Offer sale, with discounts of up to 55% now applied across their ...
15/07/2026
Real-time stem-separation tool updated
zplane have recently released a new and improved version of their real-time stem-separation plug-in which they say ma...
15/07/2026
A new benchmark in bass enhancement
Described as a new benchmark in bass enhancement , Baby Audio's latest release has been designed to augment the lo...
15/07/2026
DMC Production's AR 1 and AR 2 units reverse the conventional OB workflow, keeping all production-critical processing at the venue while operators work remo...
15/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/07/2026
GigaCloud, a leading Ukrainian cloud service provider, and Cubbit, the first geo-distributed cloud storage enabler, today announced a new Business Alliance Part...
15/07/2026
SMPTE, the global society for media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has announced the launch of the SMPTE 110th Anniversary Campaign, a fundraising...
15/07/2026
Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, unveils the new StudioComm Model 762 Stereo Level Control, ...
15/07/2026
COW Jobs: Producer, Virtual Events - Hybrid, Full Time, Salaried
Brie Clayton July 15, 2026
0 Comments
Producer, Virtual Events (Hybrid | Full-time | ...
15/07/2026
Brazilian media organization builds nationwide CDN with Broadpeak's high-performance software for low-latency streaming and new content distribution service...
15/07/2026
DHD announces a new utility designed to increase the efficiency of its audio mixing systems during initial installation and subsequent configuration.
Anyone w...
15/07/2026
BCNEXXT Brings Next-Generation Vipe to IBC2026, Breaking the 1:1 Channel-to-Server Ratio New innovations liberate broadcasters from legacy playout infrastructur...
15/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/07/2026
General-purpose robots and autonomous machines are moving from research labs to ...
15/07/2026
Wednesday 15 July 2026
Screeners and press pack now available: Gomorrah: The Or...
15/07/2026
Trinity's Treasures features Ruth Negga, Eleanor McEvoy, and David Norris, a...
15/07/2026
Join geographer Dr Susan Hegarty, Engineer Tim Joyce and Architect Orla Murphy a...
15/07/2026
Home to leading manufacturers, robotics pioneers, infrastructure builders and iconic gaming companies, of course, Japan is one of the world's centers of AI ...
14/07/2026
South end zone videoboard, cloud-based control system will be ready for 2026 football season...
14/07/2026
Redesigned website, enhanced mobile app unify content, ticketing, and personalized fan engagement...
Super League Basketball: Sustainability and consistency in focus as new league shares broadcast plans By Jo Ruddock 
