The last few years have been a testing time for British basketball. To say anything less would be to understate the significant hurdles that the sport has had to overcome in the market. Although the US’ elite NBA remains popular, exemplified by the success of a recent pair of international games staged in London, the domestic Super League Basketball (SLB) top-flight has struggled to overcome legal, regulatory, and fiscal setbacks.
SLB’s predecessor, the now-defunct British Basketball League (BBL), crumbled after major backer 777 Partners collapsed. Since then, nine of that league’s former teams have collectively operated the successor, SLB. That, though, has not been without controversy either. The British Basketball Federation (BBF) approved SLB in the interim, then handed a long-term operating license to a rival consortium after a process SLB claimed was illegal.
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The BBF entered liquidation in November 2025, owing largely to the associated legal costs related to SLB’s ensuing court case over the operating license. FIBA, the global basketball governing body, suspended the BBF a month prior, and stepped in with a task force to monitor the situation, handing SLB a ‘direct recognition agreement’ allowing it to continue to operate the competition.
Simmering away in the background, meanwhile, is the continued looming specter of the NBA and FIBA’s NBA Europe concept, and its primary opposition, the incumbent EuroLeague invitational competition. The prospective regional semi-closed franchise league could launch as soon as 2027, and although no teams have been confirmed, it is clear that organizers have designs on the UK, with London and Manchester particular targets.
Amid all the tumult, there remains one constant in British basketball. The London Lions keep winning. The sole team in the country’s single biggest market claimed the inaugural SLB Championship regular-season prize in the 2024-25 campaign, and in the current 2025-26 season has already doubled up with the SLB Trophy win on February 1, and an SLB Cup triumph on March 22.
With five games remaining in the SLB Championship regular season, the Lions lead the table with 44 points and seem assured of continued domestic success. But that is not the focus. In fact, when Lions chief executive Lenz Balan discusses the team’s long-term ambitions, you could be forgiven for forgetting that the club even competes domestically.
While that naturally speaks to the poor state of British basketball as of late, especially when compared to the other most populous countries in Europe – such as Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and Turkey – it perhaps also reflects an acceptance that in order to maximize the commercial potential of the coveted London market, the club has to look outward.
“The London Lions project is to unapologetically be a global basketball brand. The sport in this country has been massively underserved. I don't [care] about being the best team in the UK. I want to be one of the best teams in the world,” Balan said, speaking to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport).
The day Balan spoke to Sportcal, the Lions competed in their final EuroCup international fixture, although they had already been eliminated from the competition. The Lions reached the final four of the EuroLeague’s second-tier international competition back in the 2023-24 campaign, before the financial realities of the British Basketball League’s collapse rolled back much of that progress. After a year away, they returned to the fold this season, but failed to advance to the playoffs. The sting of elimination, however, did little to sour the mood, and indeed Balan’s view was one of optimism.
“There are a lot of people interested in the UK market and the London market, and European competition is an important differentiator, from a sponsor's perspective, not just in terms of where we are now, but [for the future].
“We're very clear about our ambition to be a top European club, whether that's NBA Europe or EuroLeague, whatever ends up happening. And I think what we're trying to do is say ‘come on this journey with us, and build a really cool club in a young and vibrant city that is content-focused and connected to culture.”
American Balan was vice-president at 777 Partners – which owned the Lions, as well as 45% of the BBL, before its collapse – but has remained at the basketball club long past the fund’s demise. Balan has remained the Lions chief executive through the ensuing turmoil, aiding the transition to new ownership under Lithuania’s Tesonet. Since the takeover, he has set his sights firmly on establishing the Lions as a force, both competitively and commercially, on the international stage.
NBA Europe, of course, is a major talking point. London is in an enviable position among European cities, by virtue of its large, young population, and strong sports market. Although basketball is still a challenger in the territory, the UK capital is nonetheless an obvious target for NBA Europe (and the EuroLeague too), although where the Lions sit in those plans remains to be seen.
“I think that international premium competition will be an important catalyst for British basketball, in the sense that it will bring private investment and private dollars into the ecosystem that is much needed, and it'll bring expertise into the ecosystem that is much needed.”
SLB has seen a recent influx of new overseas ownership over the past few years, from the likes of SDSports at Cheshire Phoenix, Vaughn Millette at Sheffield Sharks, the Sherwood Family at Manchester Basketball, and of course, Tesonet at the Lions. Despite this investment surge, continental attention, Balan says, is required to continue this positive moment.
“I think the capital and the confidence flooding the UK system is important,” he explains. “I think [having] NBA Europe, FIBA, and EuroLeague teams will help to further increase the number of investors, and I think all of those things are really important catalyst for the ecosystem.”
“But,” he expands, “I don't think there's a point in having a London professional basketball club unless it's playing on a global stage, or at least on a European stage.
“London is a very important market for all of these stakeholders, and we spend our time every single day trying to earn the respect of the broader community. And we have a lot of work to do, but we're determined to be a global brand.”
Crafting a long-term success
Tesonet is already a shareholder in one major European basketball force, Lithuania’s one-team EuroLeague champions Zalgiris Kaunas, who remain a prominent force on the continent. With that in mind, Balan says that knowledge shared by the new owners, as well as the investment itself, has been valuable for establishing the Lions’ new ambition.
There is an aim to ensure that the basketball club becomes sustainable in the long run, one that will require strong investment from sponsors. And while the Lions’ position as London’s only professional basketball teams means that while there will be interest, the financial state of the domestic competition means that the Lions cannot draw from the same pool of prospective brands as those in the other competitions.
“We deal with a number of economic realities. The ecosystem for basketball sponsorship [in the UK] is still in its infancy, so we don't have the luxury of being as selective as maybe other people might be able to.”
There are other limiting factors, Balan says they must consider. For example, a wish to keep both the Lions Jersey, and iconography, as “clean” as possible, which has limited appetite for a potential title sponsor for the franchise (an area where EuroCup rivals such as Dolomiti Energia Trento benefit), has to be contrasted with a focus on revenue generation.
“I'd like the jersey to be as clean as possible, because I think it's premium inventory. We don't have the same support that some of these other countries have. Basketball is still in its early growth stage. But I think that we certainly would be open to revenue opportunities as they come along, but I'd like to be selective.
“We're really a natural fit for brands that are interested in expanding in the UK market. Brands that are interested in the sort of size and scope of a pan-European elite competition like the EuroCup come quite a bit, and I think that's sort of shifted the conversation, in terms of what our sponsorship packages look like and the value of our sponsorship packages.
“In a dream world. [The top sponsor] would be a brand that really speaks to the cultural aspects that we talk about and really speak to our values. We may not have that luxury in the short term, but we're looking to build a brand where those partners want to continue to partner with us.”
US fashion house Aime Leon Dore is one that Balan points to as a long-term aspiration, though currently, he points to backers such as Boyle Sports and Payabl, both jersey sponsors, as examples of those that are supporting the team through what he terms a “critical” period for British basketball.
Owning their future
“We are very focused on trying to get to sustainability as fast as possible, but we recognize that it's going to take a great deal of investment to get there,” Balan notes on the road ahead. “We want to be as disciplined and as data-driven as possible about every single economic decision that we make.”
One such economic decision was the choice to initiate a search for a new home arena. Since 2013, the Lions have played at London’s Copper Box Arena, a legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and while it has been the franchise’s longest-serving modern home, it is not a basketball-specific venue, nor is it owned by the Lions itself, which makes leveraging it year-round and effectively monetizing on the level of other European (or indeed global) sports arenas an impossibility.
A permanent, Lions-owned home, would not only allow the team to control game ticketing and fixture arrangements, but year-round monetization.
While he admits there will be short-term pain, as is the case with most rapid infrastructure revamps, in the long term, these plans will help the club not just fall in-line with the elite of European basketball, but also prove a sustainable long-term operation in the UK ecosystem.
“In order to support the basketball club, we absolutely need to be maximizing revenue through the venue. We want to bring big events to our large arena. Major concerts. Major brands. We want to be a premium destination for live entertainment. A mixed-use arena. That is our ambition, and I think that fits our culture well.
“The nice thing about basketball as an anchor tenant for that arena is that basketball naturally fits into music culture and street culture.
“There's always tension between doing something that is purpose-built for basketball, versus doing something that is leaning a bit more towards concerts, but I think culturally, an amazing music venue and basketball space are very similar. The audiences are synergistic.”
The first phase of the venue’s feasibility study, which has set the proposal at 15,000 seats (more than double the capacity of the Copper Box), was completed in November, in partnership with the Sports Consultancy and Trivandi, while premium experientials firm Legends will support the project in phase two.
It would, in theory, be able to host around 40 basketball games per year (both Lions fixtures and international events) as well as over 100 ‘sports and cultural performances’ to round out its calendar, while also serving as a home for the Lions’ men’s and women’s teams, a training center, and a grassroots basketball project.
The plans are still in the early stages, and finding a suitable locale in the bustling city will be no mean feat. But, Balan believes that the UK will be forced into the international basketball spotlight, whether it is ready or not, and an arena will have to come regardless.
“We are really at an important inflection point where we, as a league and as a country, are going to be forced, one way or the other. Because the NBA is coming and they're going to want us to play in arenas, they're going to want us to have academies. The EuroLeague is already here, and they want that from us. FIBA is here. I think that the unique proposition now is that there is an enforcement mechanism where we all rapidly have to change.”
