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A group of 18 former employees of British Basketball League (BBL) are taking legal action against the competition that replaced it, Super League Basketball, in the latest development in the extraordinary civil war that has engulfed the sport.
The Guardian has learned that the former BBL staff have filed claims for unfair dismissal, breach of contract and unpaid wages worth millions of pounds at the London employment tribunal in a move that threatens to overshadow the start of the new Super League Basketball season, which begins on Friday. An initial hearing date has been scheduled for July 2026, although the case may not be resolved until the following year.
British basketball has been in turmoil since the collapse of its previous financial backers 777 Partners, who bought a 45% stake in the BBL four years ago and were running the league until last year, when the American investment company founded by Josh Wander was declared insolvent amid a failed attempt to buy Everton.
Subsequently 777’s operating licence was suspended by the British Basketball Federation (BBF) in June 2024 which led to the nine top BBL clubs setting up a new competition, Super League Basketball, which was granted a temporary licence by the BBF.
Relations between those two organisations soured this year after the BBF awarded the league’s long-term licence to an American investment group led by the former NBA executive Marshall Glickman, which led to the clubs suing the federation. SLB claim that the BBF’s tender process was unlawful, anti-competitive, and designed to exclude existing clubs, with the case to be decided in the high court.
The Super League clubs are now facing a legal claim themselves for millions in damages from a group of former BBL staff including senior executives, who claim they were dismissed without consultation, notice and wages two days after SLB was awarded the licence to operate the league on 19 July 2024.
The legal claim is based on the contention that as SLB was a continuation of the BBL with the same clubs and commercial partners, the staff were legally entitled to keep their job under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 [TUPE]. The SLB has the same competition structure and clubs as its predecessor, while a league-wide kit deal with Reebok that was negotiated by the BBL’s commercial team in February 2024 was announced by SLB the following August.
A spokesperson for the claimants told the Guardian: “This is about fairness. TUPE exists to protect employees when a business changes hands. The league is the same league, it just changed its name. Yet loyal staff in good standing were dismissed without pay or consultation. We are taking this action to ensure our rights, and the principle of fair treatment, are upheld.”
Another claimant added: “The owners essentially moved the company across the street and ran the same business, but left the staff behind. We had spent years working to grow professional basketball in the UK, but were left high and dry.
“Many of us have suffered financially as a result, have been forced to leave the country in search of work, with a major impact on our families.”
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The claimants are understood to have made numerous approaches to the SLB clubs seeking a mediated settlement before filing the claim without receiving a positive response. If successful, the legal action would have a potentially devastating impact on the finances of a sport and competition that is already facing an uncertain future.
The new Glickman-run league is due to start next year pending the outcome of SLB’s legal action, but has yet to announce any teams or venues.
The row could also jeopardise £4.75m in government funding basketball is due to receive over the next four years. As previously reported by the Guardian, the sports minister Stephanie Peacock has been in contact with funding agency, UK Sport, expressing concerns about the situation.
SLB and BBF declined to comment.
