'You're jeopardising basketball's future': Sheffield Sharks' rivals Leicester Riders and Newcastle Eagles in warning to governing body
Two of the architects of professional basketball in Britain have spoken of their frustration and disappointment at the way the game’s governing body is threatening the existence of the sport’s elite competition and the very ecosystem their clubs have helped grow over the last few decades.
Together, Kevin Routledge, the majority owner of Leicester Riders, and Paul Blake, the owner of Newcastle Eagles, have over 70 years experience in running professional basketball clubs in this country.
On Friday night, Routledge’s Riders host Sheffield Sharks in what will be the 150th meeting between the two clubs, while Blake’s Eagles head to Sheffield on Sunday for the 144th encounter involving those two long-standing clubs.
Both games will be played in fit-for-purpose arenas those clubs built themselves - Newcastle also have one - which outside of game day act as community hubs for basketball.
But both Routledge and Blake fear the way the British Basketball Federation (BBF) is treating Super League Basketball (SLB) is putting not only the men’s game, but the whole infrastructure of the sport, in jeopardy.
What’s the background?
Back in January, the BBF awarded the licence to run the professional men’s tier from 2026 to a group of American investors, the GBB League, fronted by former EuroLeague acting CEO and NBA team president Marshall Glickman.
SLB has taken legal action claiming the tender process was illegal and the sport has been embroiled in a civil war that is headed to the High Court, ever since.
This summer the BBF tried to prevent SLB clubs getting Governing Body Endorsements for import players - which would have severely damaged the quality of the on-court product - but the club-owned league won that battle in the Home Office.
Then last weekend, the second SLB season tipped off without the highest-ranked referees officiating because the league claims the BBF has warned officials that they could damage their standing with the game’s governing body if they take charge of games in an unrecognised league. In the league’s attempts to get officials to referee games, a 68-year-old who has been long since retired took charge of Sheffield’s opening night defeat to Bristol Flyers.
People like Routledge, Blake and Sharks CEO Sarah Backovic - all of which are directors of SLB - are involved in talks to resolve that situation.
But in a direct plea to the governing body, these two prominent figures have spoken out.
Concerns over basketball’s economy
Routledge - who has seen six different chairmen of the BBF up to current incumbent Chris Grant MBE since he helped found the British Basketball League in 1986 - said: “It’s incredibly frustrating for someone who has put 51 years into the sport.
“What sits at the heart of it is a lack of understanding of the basketball economy in the UK.
“By seeking to suggest to referees their future careers to go onto European or international matches could be at risk, and thereby undermining their position, is ridiculous.
“If we don’t play our games, the whole thing unravels. For example, there are six clubs that are in SLB that have a team in SLB Women (Sheffield, Leicester and Newcastle among them), the majority of the women’s clubs, they’re all subsidised by the men’s teams.
“By seeking to undermine the economy of the men’s clubs, you’re putting the women’s game at risk too.
“Ditto if you go through the player pathway, we had seven kids who have gone from our college programmes and onto scholarships at either the US or in big academies in Europe. That’s all subsided by the men’s team.
“All of that programme relies on the professional team, so while the governing body is busy trying to make it as difficult as possible - the latest instance with the referees - they’re putting all these programmes and pathways in jeopardy.
“That is a message that is getting through to Government, which is encouraging. But the fact it’s not landing at the governing body level is terribly disappointing.”
Blake, who has owned Newcastle since 1999, feels similar.
His team rented Newcastle Arena for over a decade before he could finally get the Eagles into their own purpose-built venue in 2019.
The Vertu Motors Arena is owned by the Eagles’ Foundation, with ticket revenue going into the club and secondary revenue on a match night going to the foundation. In what Blake describes as a symbiotic relationship, both entities reap the benefits.
But it is the professional men’s team that prop up the whole operation.
“We run the biggest community basketball programme in the country, of any club of any level,” Blake told The Yorkshire Post.
“We’ve set up a model where essentially we’ve acted as the governing body - along with other local partners - for the delivery of youth basketball in our territory for the past 25 years, and we have just under 2,500 playing in those clubs.
“That basketball community work is the cornerstone of everything we deliver.
“It’s a lot of hard work and toil and I cannot say hand on heart that our NGB’s (national governing bodies) have supported us in any way in getting that off the ground.
“And that’s the most frustrating thing for me, particularly that we are being accused of affecting the wider sport, when we are delivering one of the biggest programmes in the country.”
He added: “What is happening right now is 100 per cent jeopardising that. What’s at risk is essentially 200 jobs, a mix of part-time and full-time.
“A sizable basketball community that is producing players, one is at the New York Knicks system; we had a coach in Fab Flourney who is now working with Nick Nurse in the NBA.
“Our message is we do not want harm to be done to us in trying to deliver what we’re delivering, and we are being harmed by the decisions that have been made. What we’re trying to do locally has been harmed quite significantly over the last 12 months.
“Which is very frustrating given the very positive conversations we had with BBF directors last summer.”
Reaction to GBBL’s proposals
Both men - given their decades-worth of experience in promoting professional basketball in Britain - have also questioned what’s known of the business plan of the GBB League, which just last week was pushed back 12 months to 2027. The GBBL say they have done so to align with the potential of the NBA creating a European competition.
In May, The Yorkshire Post revealed that GBBL wants to "disrupt traditional league structures by migrating 25 per cent plus of games from small home arenas to world class venues via regional mini tournaments that offer compelling experiences”.
Routledge said: “With respect to Mr Glickman and his gang they have not run any sport in this country, they have no experience, it’s not like it’s an established company that has a track record that you can go look at and say look what they did here and there.
“What relevance has that got to filling Leicester’s arena on a Friday night, and quite frankly, there’s the issue.
“Anyone can have a business plan, I’ve had more business plans put in front of me by very good people than I’ve had hot dinners.
“They’re all very similar and they all assume it’s easy to sell tickets for basketball every two weeks.
“It isn’t. Just like it’s hard to sell tickets for County Championship matches if you’re not at Lord’s, the Oval, Old Trafford. Go try and do it at Leicestershire County Cricket, it’s bloody hard.
“Little tournaments through the season; we’ve done this before, it doesn’t work. You can only do it, and this applies to any sport, by building from the bottom up, you have your community programmes, have your pathways, you get the kids when they’re young, you bring them along, their families buy tickets and you build the family out.
“The idea that some form of razzmatazz basketball that will sell tickets for fun is just ludicrous.
“Anybody can do a one-off event, but a professional sports club is about once a fortnight, 20 times a season, you’ve got to get people out and take on the competition from everyone’s busy lives, cost of living crisis etc.
“And £15.5m (initial investment into the game by GBBL) won’t touch the sides. Look at the investments made in Leicester, the investments made in Sheffield. Look at Bristol starting a 5,000-seater arena with a budget of £70m.
“This idea that £15.5m is a big sum and will change the basketball world in this country, again shows a lack of understanding of what it takes to build sustainable clubs and a sustainable league.”
Newcastle’s Blake added: “We spent 14 years at Newcastle Arena, and across that period of time we realised it does not work unless you can get into an owner/operator scenario because essentially we’re hiring somebody else’s venue and getting no secondary spend from it.
“So all you’re left with from that business model is ticket sales minus the VAT.
“It’s not a business model that anyone with any common sense will say is a long-term workable strategy. Equally, a long-term strategy like a new build, doesn’t happen with a short-term recognition offer.”
The GBB League has said it wants SLB clubs as part of its league, but as it stands, those clubs are refusing to meet with the new venture.
In a statement released at the weekend, the BBF wrote: “Despite repeated offers - including within the last 24 hours - it has not been possible to agree recognition terms that would enable SLB to operate within the sport’s established regulatory structures.
“As the National Governing Body for elite basketball in Britain, the BBF has a duty to uphold the integrity of the sport, protect participants, and ensure compliance with the rules and regulations set by FIBA and other relevant authorities. The BBF will continue to pursue a robust and constructive resolution to this regrettable situation in the interests of the wider sport.
“In the immediate term, the Federation urges SLB to prioritise the protection and welfare of its players, coaches, officials, and other participants, particularly in light of the risks associated with operating outside recognised and regulated competition frameworks.”
Routledge said of the statement: “We asked for recognition by BBF in writing in February, in line with FIBA regulations. Those last-minute offers referenced by BBF were not thought through. Our governing body needs to try and stop imposing and start listening.”