Exclusive: Super League Basketball to launch new team in city GBBL targeted as BBF make last-ditch attempt to stall visas
Super League Basketball is on the verge of landing a significant blow in its civil war with the sport’s governing body by launching a team in Liverpool that could be on court as early as next month.
Multiple sources have confirmed that an American investor is on board and the search is on for a suitable arena to play in, either starting in September, or ready for next year.
Such a move would be a significant coup for the embattled league given the GBBL - the group of external investors from the US that was controversially awarded the licence to run the professional league from the 2026/27 season by the British Basketball Federation (BBF) - had identified Liverpool as a key market to launch a start-up franchise in.
The news comes after The Yorkshire Post learned the BBF has lodged a last-ditch attempt to prevent SLB clubs signing foreign players in another twist to the sport’s increasingly hostile civil war.
The BBF has written to the Home Office asking them to pause the issuing of visas to import players because they believe it would put the sport in “significant danger” by “threatening the potential US investment it has lined up for the British game”.
This comes after it emerged last week that the Home Office had ruled in favour of the SLB in allowing Basketball England to continue endorsing player visas for players to join clubs like Sheffield Sharks.
It means the sport’s six-month long in-fighting is heading for a pivotal judgement day at the Home Office.
The SLB need approval from the Home Office. For a new club to sponsor overseas sportspeople under the International Sportsperson route, they must first be a licenced sponsor. To obtain a sponsor licence, an organisation must be endorsed by the Home Office-approved sports governing body (Basketball England in this case). A new franchise would need imports to be able to compete in a league in which more than 50 per cent of rosters are made up of North Americans.
On the other side, BBF chair Chris Grant OBE has written to the Home Office - a letter seen by The Yorkshire Post - challenging last week’s ruling that “shifted 180 degrees to a position where they (Home Office) are requiring Basketball England to focus only on the criteria relating to incoming players or staff and not to the sponsoring employer (clubs)”.
Mr Grant - whose British governing body stripped the SLB of the licence to run the league this coming season - writes: “Such players will not be protected by the sport’s player welfare; integrity; anti-doping or other safeguards.
“Furthermore, the presence of unlicensed players in an unregulated league in Great Britain could lead to the exclusion by FIBA of GB national teams from European, global and Olympic competitions.
“The change in approach by your Department also threatens the transformational investment in British basketball which has been committed by reputable investors led by WestRiver Group, who are advised in the UK by Sir Keith Mills.”
If the Home Office - which is conducting an enquiry - rules in the BBF’s favour and pauses the granting of visas to import players, it would have a crippling effect on the SLB clubs, who are already announcing player signings for the new season. It is understood Sheffield Sharks have had visas approved for four of their announced signings.
What is the wider picture?
In the background is the GBB League, the group led by a former NBA team president, Marshall Glickman.
The decision made by the BBF in January to award them the licence to run the professional league for 15 years from 2026/27, pledging £15m in investment into the game, sparked the civil war in the sport.
The SLB - the consortium of nine clubs including Sheffield which rescued the league from financial collapse last summer - declined to bid for the long-term licence because it deemed the tender process to be unlawful. The league is suing the BBF over the process, and the governing body has subsequently counter-sued.
As it stands, 13 months out from the agreed start date of a GBB League that states on an investor sheet to potential backers that it plans to “disrupt traditional formats by migrating 25 per cent of games away from local venues”, the start-up has announced no new clubs and the nine SLB teams remain steadfast in their refusal to even co-operate, let alone join the league.
Liverpool, along with Leeds/Bradford, was one of the areas identified by GBB League when it arrived as a key area to target to launch a franchise, so missing out to SLB would be a setback.
The SLB, which includes long-standing clubs like Sharks, Leicester Riders and Newcastle Eagles which have built their own arenas for professional and community basketball, is due to start on September 19 but will do so outside the regulation of the BBF, of which it only now seeks recognition.
Mr Grant concludes his letter by saying: “I should stress that it is neither the intention nor the desire of the BBF to deny these clubs the opportunity to bring in players and staff requiring visas. The BBF is ready to offer a form of recognition to SLB clubs which will bring them back into the National Championship structure.”
GBB League have been contacted for an update.