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.
London Lions (basketball) London Lions (basketball) The London Lions are a British professional basketball team based in London, England. The Lions compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British Basketball. The team was founded in 1977 as the Hemel Hempstead Lakers, and have been based in Hemel Hempstead, Watford and Milton Keynes. Since 2013, the team have played home games at the Copper Box Arena in Stratford, East London. The franchise that would become London Lions initially started out in the town of Hemel Hempstead, as the Hemel Hempstead Lakers. The team was named after one of the NBA’s most