Ahead of a hotly anticipated debut campaign, Super League Basketball (SLB) have announced the four competitions that will make up its inaugural season, which is set to tip-off on Friday 27 September.
The SLB have introduced four formats for the 2024/25 season which pay homage to the storied history of top-flight British basketball, with Championship, Cup, Play-Offs and Trophy competitions set to keeps fans on the edges of their seats throughout the year.
Getting underway in late September, the Trophy tournament takes centre-stage from the tip-off as five weeks of group stage action will see SLB fans to the start of November, when the Championship campaign commences.
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.
Continuing the history of one of British basketball’s most storied competitions, the SLB have established a Cup competition which will take place over six weeks from February ahead of a Final in March at a venue to be confirmed, before the road to the Play-Offs resumes with the Championship action concluding on April 27.
The top eight teams in the 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 Play-Offs Final to compete for the biggest prize in British basketball.
Venue information for the Cup and Play-Offs Finals will be announced in the coming weeks.
Speaking following confirmation of the competition formats, SLB Interim Chair Vaughn Millette 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.”
2024/25 SUPER LEAGUE BASKETBALL (SLB) FORMATS:
Championship:
- Featuring all nine SLB franchises, playing each other four time (twice at home, twice away from home) over a 23-week season, equating to 32 games per club.
Cup:
- A bracket-style knockout tournament.
- A random draw will take place to draw seven teams straight into the Cup quarter-finals, with the remaining two franchises playing a single-leg qualifier for the chance to join the other seven teams in the next round.
- Semi-finals will be two-legged ties.
- Single-leg Final to take place at the end of March with date and venue TBC.
Trophy:
- Featuring all nine teams in a round robin tournament.
- Teams will be split into two groups – one group of four and another group of five.
- Teams will play home and away games against each of their group opponents.
- The winners and runners-up in each group will qualify for the two-legged semi-finals, with the winner of Group A facing the runner-up of Group B and vice-versa.
- A single-leg Final will take place at Utilita Arena Birmingham on Sunday January 26 2025.
Play-Offs:
- The top eight SLB teams from the end-of-season Championship standings will qualify for the Play-Offs.
- Both quarter-finals and semi-finals will be played over two legs.
- Quarter-final ties will be assigned by Championship seeding (1st vs 8th, 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th, 4th vs 5th).
- Semi-final ties will be assigned by the highest remaining seed facing the lowest remaining seed and the second-highest facing the second-lowest.
- In both round, the higher seed has the choice of home leg.
- A single-leg Final will take place in London on May 18 with venue information TBC.
The 2024/25 season fixtures are expected to drop any day now with Newcastle Eagles season tickets still available from the box office to secure the best seats in the house and making big savings against single game tickets to see all the SLB action.
As a thanks to our most loyal fans for their support with this new format, any Eagles home games in the Cup competition will be automatically included for season ticket holders.
Season tickets for 2024/25 will now include all men’s Super League Basketball Championship, Cup and Trophy home games, plus any potential home Play-Offs Quarter-Finals.
