The British Basketball Federation (BBF), the sport’s governing body in the UK, has entered liquidation proceedings, it has said, after a testing 2025 in which it has been mired in legal and governance disputes.
On November 14, the BBF revealed that it had been forced to cease trading due to what it called a “significant and unanticipated reduction in income and unforeseen expenditure resulting in the company’s inability to meet its liabilities as they fall due.”
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Reportedly, these costs have stemmed from its long-running legal battle with Super League Basketball (SLB), the country’s top-flight competition, which has caused a major rift in the country’s basketball landscape.
Last year, the BBF offered a 15-year league operating license to the GBBL consortium led by US businessman Marshall Glickman, a consortium that said it would invest as much as £15 million ($19.75 million) into basketball in the country.
In a statement responding to the liquidation announcement, GBBL has now said: “Following the news that the British Basketball Federation has entered into administration, GBBL is working with its legal counsel to evaluate its options pertaining to the status of its 15-year license to run a British professional basketball league from 2027.
“In accordance with the terms of the license, significant sums of money have been paid to the BBF, and this is of grave concern to GBBL."
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By GlobalDataSLB still contests the legitimacy of the license award, claiming they had not been consulted and the licensing process breached UK competition law, leading to a protracted legal battle that caused a major rift in the sport in the country.
Indeed, SLB clubs took BBF to the High Court in June. Along with breaching competition law, the organization accused the federation of abusing its position and breaching its duties as a governing body to act rationally, fairly, and lawfully.
The legal dispute prompted basketball governing body FIBA to step in and set up a task force, leading to the BBF’s suspension. A month after the task force was launched, BBF chair Chris Grant resigned from the body “for personal reasons.”
Then, earlier in November, FIBA announced it had struck “a direct recognition agreement” with SLB to oversee the men's top-flight basketball competition in the UK.
The FIBA taskforce, on the liquidation of the BBF, added: “In these challenging times, FIBA stands alongside the British Basketball Federation (BBF), UK Government, and UK Sport, and remains dedicated to supporting BBF to restore its operations and secure its position as the basketball governing body in Great Britain.”
