British Basketball League continues US push with Bally Sports

The British Basketball League has agreed a broadcast rights deal with Bally Sports.

Bally Sports owns and operates 18 regional sports networks across the US, and each will offer two weekly British Basketball League games, scheduled for Thursday and Friday evenings. They will also be made available to stream live and on demand through the Bally Sports app – when users authenticate through their local TV provider or subscribe to Bally Sports+, the company’s D2C platform.

From spring, Bally Sports will alsof offer two weekly original content programmes from the British Basketball League. These are Unbeatable, which offers weekly highlights, original features, exclusive player and league personality interviews, top plays, and bloopers, and Inside The Pain, which provides an in-depth analysis surrounding the week’s action, incorporating reactions from both players and coaches. 

British Basketball League chief executive officer Aaron Radin said: “Our mission is to delight fans worldwide with our sports entertainment offering. This partnership with Bally Sports signifies yet another big step in the growth and global appeal of our League. We’re excited to showcase the competitiveness of British basketball to Bally Sports audiences and create connections with sports fans in the U.S. through the incredible reach of their regional networks.”

The British Basketball League has targeted the US for growth, signing a number of regional rights deals as well as a US-wide agreement with Fubo Sports. This follows an overhaul of its presentations that included bringing production in-house and creating a virtual studio. Games are shown on YouTube and Sky Sports in the UK, and British Basketball League head of marketing Joe Edwards wrote for Broadcast Sport about the competition’s plans to “revolutionise” the game in the UK last year.