1996–97 British Basketball League season a bye into Quarter-finals. Birmingham Bullets vs. Leicester Riders Leopards vs. London Towers Thames Valley Tigers vs. Chester Jets Worthing Bears vs. Sheffield Sharks Chester Jets vs. Leicester Riders Sheffield Sharks vs. London Towers 1996–97 British Basketball League season The 1996–1997 BBL season was known as the Budweiser League for sponsorship reasons. The league retained a total of 13 teams, playing 36 games each. The main change featured the long-awaited return of Crystal Palace after several seasons of rejected applications. Palace replaced Doncaster Panthers following the liquidation of the South Yorkshire club. The League's two London-based teams dominated throughout the
British Basketball League system in use in the BBL, although several clubs have been elected from the EBL in recent years. Currently the League consists of 12 teams with representation from both England and Scotland. Member franchises of the BBL jointly own the league, and a chairman is elected by the teams to oversee league operations. The head offices are located in Leicester, where the country's oldest team, the Leicester Riders is also based. In 2012 the BBL, along with several other basketball governing bodies including England Basketball and basketballscotland, united to form the British Basketball Union, an organisation created to promote the