20 Jun 2016
British Basketball Federation mulls central funding pot for facilities
BY Matthew Campelli
The British Basketball Federation (BBF) is exploring the idea of creating a central funding pot for the development of new facilities.
Talking to Sports Management, BBF chair Nick Humby said a centralised system would make the strategy of establishing more purpose-built basketball facilities more sustainable.
He referenced the Football Association’s (FA) Parklife scheme – in which it is building quality football hubs in urban centres – as the type of model he wanted to replicate for basketball, although he admitted that the plan was still at an “aspirational stage”.
The facilities, said Humby, would be the homes of British Basketball League (BBL) clubs, but would also allow for grassroots basketball and community projects. Clubs like the Leicester Riders, Newcastle Eagles and Sheffield Sharks are at various stages developing their own facilities – with the former opening a new £6m (US$8.6m, €7.6m) arena earlier this year.
But Humby said he was concerned that projects were happening in isolation and that there needed to be a more joined up approach to make basketball facilities “central hubs in their community”.
“During the consultation process [for the BBF’s new strategy] I talked a lot about this with England Basketball CEO Stuart Kellett,” said Humby. “We need a clearer strategy to support how we roll these facilities out, to make them work more efficiently and potentially create some sort of central funding pot.”
The chair said he wanted to work with Sport England and other funding partners to make facilities more sustainable.
To read Sports Management’s full interview with Nick Humby, click here.
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