SLB announces 4 competition format ahead of new season
The new professional basketball league, Super League Basketball (SLB), will have four titles at stake, with the Championship, Cup, Playoff and Trophy competitions reintroduced to the top flight, the league has announced today.
It returns to the four-title format the professional league had before last season, when the BBL introduced an All-Star game and dropped the Cup competition.
The new season, set to tip off on Friday September 27, will start with the Trophy, with five weeks of round robin two-group stage action before the Championship campaign commences.
The Championship will see each team play each other four times (twice at home, twice away) over a 23-week season, equating to 32 game regular season.
Utilita Arena Birmingham will host the first major Final in SLB history on January 26,
2025, as the Trophy title will be up for grabs, representing the first in a trio of showpiece
events taking place before the end of the season.
The SLB have re-introduced a straight knockout Cup competition which will take place over six weeks from February ahead of two-leg semi-finals and a single-leg Final in March at a venue to be confirmed, before the road to the Playoffs resumes with the Championship action concluding on April 27.
The top eight teams in the nine-team SLB will qualify for the post-season, battling in two legged quarter- and semi-finals for a place in London on May 18 in the Playoff Final to compete for the biggest prize in British basketball.
Venue information for the Cup and Playoff Finals will be announced in the coming weeks.
Speaking following confirmation of the competition formats, SLB Interim Chair Vaughn Millette, new owner of the Sheffield Sharks, said:
“We’re delighted to be launching our inaugural season with four fantastic competitions for our fans to look forward to. British basketball has a rich history and we’re pleased to pay tribute to that heritage with these competitions, setting the stage for a spectacular SLB season.
“The excitement for the return of elite level British basketball is evident and we’re delighted to be able to give the fans what they want from September 27, with a full fixture list for all of our competitions to be released in the coming days.”
The post SLB announces 4 competition format ahead of new season appeared first on Hoopsfix.com.