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
Canadian Elite Basketball League city of the forthcoming Canadian Elite Basketball League, playing out of the Sleeman Centre. On November 7, 2017, Fraser Valley Professional Basketball Club was announced, playing out of the Abbotsford Centre in Abbotsford, British Columbia. On November 22, the CEBL announced a team in Niagara playing out of the Meridian Centre would also be joining the league, which would later be confirmed as the Niagara River Lions then of the National Basketball League of Canada. At the same time, the CEBL also announced the creation of their launch committee: Mike Morreale, Glenn Young, Carman Adair, Sebastien Chevrier, Mardig Sevadijan, Noelvi