Big city franchises join Britan’s top flight basketball league

So it’s official – Manchester Giants are back in the BBL, as well as a return for basketball in London with the arrival of East London Royals for the 2012/13 campaign.

Former Manchester player Jeff Jones, who has been at the helm of the Giants, Derby and also most recently Manchester Magic, is now heading up the charge again for a revitalised Giants franchise.

Jones, whose sons James and Callum already play in the BBL (last year for Plymouth and Worcester respectively), is looking for the best in “home-grown talent with more experienced players” to take to the court at Wright Robinson Sports College in Gorton in the upcoming season.

The venue, which already houses Northern Thunder in the FIAT Netball Superleague, holds roughly a 1,000 capacity, and also is boosted by the fact it can host television cameras for appearances on Sky Sports. This is hoped to be a temporary home, with developments at SportCity meaning a permanent home would be available in the near future.

Giants Chief Executive, Steve Mansfield, made it known the efforts to get the franchise off the ground: “We are delighted that we have been able to resurrect such an iconic Manchester sports brand as the Manchester Giants. It has taken a lot of hard work to get to this stage but we are only a months away from the first match of the new season and a new era for basketball in Manchester and a new force in the BBL.”

East London Royals will be based at the £8.1million SportHouse, Mayesbrook Park, Dagenham, which this summer will be exclusively used as a training venue for an array of Olympic athletes for six weeks over the Games period.

A 5000m² sports hall gives adequate room again for a large capacity crowd and again television access, and it would be hoped that any significant progress by Team GB in the basketball tournament may bring new fans through the doors.

Royals Director, Mark Clark, said: “We are very excited at joining the BBL at a great time for the sport in the UK. The BBL has gained great exposure over the last two seasons and the Olympic Games will give the sport huge coverage. With our involvement in the local GB Regional Basketball Institute we hope the BBL team will also provide a pathway for the cream of the Institute players.”

Manchester were no doubt at the front of everyone’s minds, but definitely a curve ball for some to see an East London Royals appearance after the London Leopards name was touted about for a while.

The questions still remain though, will Mersey Tigers still be a part of the league this year? It isn’t thought that there will be any more new franchises, but as followers of the BBL know, ANYTHING can happen, so will be there more surprises?

The fixtures according to the BBL will be released next few weeks, so no doubt will we hear more news very soon, and quite thick and fast I predict.