16 National Leagues in Indian Basketball!? BFI invites proposals

Interested entities have been asked to submit comprehensive proposals by February 26 to basketballfederationindia@gmail.com

In an eye-catching announcement made earlier today, Basketball Federation of India (BFI) has invited proposals for the establishment of various categories of basketball leagues across the country.

These are for leagues in both the 3x3 and 5v5 format, across the school, college, U23 and senior professional levels - for the two predominant genders.

The proposed national leagues are:

1. 3x3 National School League - Boys & Girls

2. 5v5 National School League - Boys & Girls

3. 3x3 National College League - Men & Women

4. 5v5 National College League - Men & Women

5. 3x3 National U23 League - Men & Women

6. 5v5 National U23 League - Men & Women

7. 3x3 National Professional League - Men & Women

8. 5v5 National Professional League - Men & Women

This amounts to a whopping 16 leagues, if one were to consider the boys/men and girls/women categories separately.

Quoting verbatim from BFI’s social media announcement:

“Interested corporate entities, private sectors and individuals have been asked to submit comprehensive proposals outlining their plans, execution strategies, financial projections and telecast arrangements by February 26 to basketballfederationindia@gmail.com.

Further details regarding the process timetable will be provided subsequent to this initial expression of interest.”

Considering the imminent Request For Proposals (RFP) deadline of February 26, it will be interesting to see how many quality applications are submitted. That said, this move by BFI certainly provides ample space for multiple event management companies to prove their credentials.

Indian U18 basketball players coming in the ongoing 73rd Junior National Championship. Many of these players will hope to play in the proposed college leagues that BFI intends to start. Image credit - BFI.

Unlocking Indian Basketball’s Commercial Value

From BFI’s standpoint, announcing multiple categories of league based competitions is an ambitious, laudatory attempt to unlock the tremendous commercial value in Indian basketball that has been lying dormant for far too long. That said, care must be taken to ensure that these properties are not sold for a below-market valuation - especially considering these are untested IPs being offered in omnibus fashion.

Additionally, the move to potentially launch school, college and U23 national leagues first, reaffirms BFI President Aadhav Arjuna’s repeated assertions in recent months that a pool of high quality talent must be developed initially to ensure the success of the eagerly antipated crown jewels of Indian basketball i.e. its Professional Leagues. The fact that leagues are being announced in both 5v5 and also 3x3 is an indicator of the equal emphasis being placed on the latter shorter format of the game - which is known to give basketball-weaker countries like India better qualification chances for the Olympics.

Finally, it shouldn’t go unnoticed that leagues have been announced for both predominant genders - rather than just for boys/men - a healthy sign of gender equality that unfortunately remains conspicuously missing in most other Indian team sports.

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