Sheffield Sharks in Europe? Will Yorkshire's team follow London Lions, Caledonia Gladiators, Bristol Flyers and Newcastle Eagles into continental competition

Leicester Riders – who Sharks play on Saturday – ended a decade-long absence from European competition for British clubs in the 2018-19 season while champions London Lions have been playing in Europe since the 2020-21 campaign.

This year, three more British teams – Caledonia Gladiators, Bristol Flyers and Newcastle Eagles – all ventured into European competition for the first time, the Gladiators playing in the EuropeCup and the Flyers and Eagles in the European North Basketball League, which is independent of world governing body FIBA.

Sharks are one of the most consistently successful franchises in the history of the British men’s game.

They tried European competition once before, for two successive seasons after they had won the British top flight in their first season back in the mid-1990s.

“We played some immense teams, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen,” remembers Sharks general manager Sarah Backovic. “It was great, we really enjoyed it, but it’s a challenge.”

The Sharks are now looking at what their rivals are doing before deciding what hand, if any, they will play.

European competition brings more exposure, more eyes on the brand. Even the European North league which Bristol and Newcastle compete in can see games played on American TV to six-figure audiences.

But it also comes with considerable financial outlay up front – a lot more travel, deeper squads are required and bigger budgets.

Teams can either earn a spot in Europe by winning the league, as London have done, or by taking up the invite to apply, which Bristol and Newcastle are understood to have done.

The indications are from Sheffield that they see it as part of their long-term strategy, but that going in at the level of the EuroCup, the second tier, would be their more desirable than the independent European North Basketball League.

Backovic added: “I know Atiba Lyons (head coach and fellow director) has got his eye on playing in Europe, but I think we feel we have a lot of work to do in terms of establishing ourselves at our new arena first and then building up a team budget that could compete.

“We’d want to be competitive in Europe, rather than just going in and getting knocked out straight away. But it is a long-term aim.”

A New Year’s Eve fixture on Sunday will help.

Having already played on Christmas Eve – losing to London Lions in the capital – Sharks would have been forgiven for thinking a home game on December 31 against Manchester Giants would be a hard sell.

Far from it.

“We’ve got just a couple hundred seats left, and because we get a lot of sales on the day, we might get close to capacity,” says Backovic of the marquee fixture.

“Traditionally for all teams the post-Christmas game is a great fixture commercially, with families looking for new things to do, and when we saw New Year’s we worried it might be a challenge but it has proven to be more successful than any other game so far.”

Prior to Sunday’s game (3pm tip-off), Sharks visit Leicester Riders on Saturday (5pm).