BBL Championship
Current season, competition or edition: 2015–16 British Basketball League season
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The BBL Championship logo
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| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Inaugural season | 1987–88 |
| No. of teams | 12 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
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| Continent |
 FIBA Europe (Europe) |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Newcastle Eagles (7th title) |
| Most titles |
Newcastle Eagles (7 titles) |
| TV partner(s) | BBL TV, British Eurosport |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) |
BBL Cup BBL Trophy |
| Related competitions |
EBL Championship SBC Senior Men Division 1 |
The British Basketball League Championship, often shortened to the BBL Championship, is the top-level men's professional basketball league in the United Kingdom. Established in 1987, the competition is administered by the British Basketball League and comprises 13 teams from both England and Scotland. Each team plays a 36-game regular season, from September until April, with the team that finishes in first place being crowned as League champions. Following the end of the regular season, the top eight-placed teams advance to the post-season Play-off tournament to decide the winner of the BBL Championship.
There is currently no promotion or relegation between the second-tier English and Scottish leagues and the BBL Championship because of the franchise system in use in the BBL, although several clubs have been elected from the English Basketball League in recent years.
Since 1972, the English Basketball Association-operated semi-professional National Basketball League provided competition for the country's top basketball clubs. The league started with six clubs, but grew each year to include multiple divisions featuring teams from across England. However, by the mid-1980s, following an increase in the sport's popularity due to coverage from television network Channel 4, the League's foremost clubs – looking to improve the basketball's image through greater professionalism – broke away from the English Basketball Association and formed their own administration. The new organisation, simply called the Basketball League, was established in 1987 and saw a franchise-based set-up where every member would have an equal shareholding and a representative on the League's Board of Directors, and with no promotion or relegation to the lower leagues aiming at increasing the league's stability. The NBL's sponsorship deal from the Carlsberg Group continued with the new organisation and the newly founded Carlsberg League tipped off its inaugural season in 1987. A total of 15 teams took to the floor for the 1987–88 season, with the new League including all 13 former NBL teams present as well as drafting in new entrants Oldham Celtics (promoted from NBL Division 2) and Livingston (elected from the Scottish National League). The new league continued the NBL's policy of allowing only two import players to be registered per team. Portsmouth were the early pace-setters and pipped Kingston to the first regular-season League title but it was underdogs Livingston, the only member based outside England, that claimed the first Championship thanks to an 81–72 victory over Portsmouth in the Play-off Final.
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