NBA to invest £5m in UK grassroots basketball

The UK Government and the US-based National Basketball Association (NBA) have revealed plans to collaborate on a variety of initiatives to grow basketball across the UK.

As part of the partnership, the NBA will invest £5m into grassroots development and fan engagement programmes through 2028, expanding the NBA’s existing programming that reaches more than 50,000 youth players across the UK annually.

This will be matched by £5m of government funding, earmarked for basketball by the DCMS as part of a wider £400m investment in grassroots announced earlier this year. It is hoped that the £10m investment will begin delivering on the potential of basketball – which is often described as “the second-most-popular team sport for young people”.