Hey,

Knee deep in bid writing and planning for the 2022 Hoopsfix All-Star Classic. Venue is trying to charge us almost our entire event budget for hire and I am once again reminded of just how hard it is for a basketball team/organisation to run anything that is financially viable without their own facility!

This week's 3-pointer:

🎙 Podcast: Lenz Balan of 777

Happy to have finally got this one out, an in-depth look at what 777 see in British basketball and why they decided to put £7million into the BBL to try and put it on the map. I came away from the call a lot more optimistic about their chances of pulling it off than I was - loved the scale of their ambition, the emphasis on finding the right people and approaching it as a content business, but perhaps the most interesting nugget is the money is internally generated as opposed to being from external investors. It removes the incentives for a quick exit and instead means they will be in it for as long as they need to, to turn it into a cash generating machine. As Lenz said, failure is not an option for them.

🪨 Glasgow Rocks making bid for new home

Glasgow Rocks are making moves to become the latest BBL franchise to have their own facility, with their bid for Easterhouse Sports Centre. I can understand the need for their own facility (see newsletter intro!), but this looks - on the surface - like a considerable step down from the Emirates Arena. Would love to see a 3D render of how they plan for it to look, as right now, it looks like it will be another sub-standard BBL home venue. Fingers crossed the photos are nothing like it will look if they are successful!

🔝 BBL Top 10 Plays of the Week

Jordan Harris' big time lefty flush in the BBL Trophy takes the number 1 spot for last week - week 20 pending and should drop in next couple of days - the overall strongest top plays of the season so far I think...

That wraps up another drop, as always, hit reply with any thoughts, questions or anything else!

With gratitude,

Sam