1997–98 British Basketball League season 1997–98 British Basketball League season The 1997–1998 BBL season was known as the Budweiser League for sponsorship reasons. The league featured the same 13 teams as the previous year, playing 36 games each. The only change saw the Hemel Royals renamed the Watford Royals. Greater London Leopards clinched their second successive Budweiser League title only by virtue of an overtime win in their final game of the season against Sheffield Sharks. Leopards' 102–106 victory in Sheffield meant they finished level on points with title-rivals Birmingham Bullets, but were crowned Champions due to a better head-to-head record over the Midlands team.
British Basketball League breaking crowd of 14,700 in attendance. The British Basketball League and Basketball England announced in June 2014 the launch of the Women's British Basketball League, the top-level women's basketball league in Great Britain as a counterpart to the BBL. The league signed a 32-game broadcast deal with BBC which saw both British Basketball League and Women's British Basketball League games broadcast via the BBC Sport website. The three main finals (Cup, Trophy, and Play-Off) would also be broadcast on the BBC Red Button. In September 2016, the league agreed a six-year deal with Perform, the leading digital sports content and