England Basketball Funding Award Cut by Sport England

The funding available to England Basketball has been cut by £1.2m (US$1.9m) by the board of Sport England after they decided that England Basketball’s plans had not adequately addressed the challenge of increasing participation beyond the governing body’s current audiences.

The previous four-year funding of England Basketball had been structured to encourage a greater commitment, generic and improved approach, and to increasing participation in the sport. A maximum award of £1.2m ($1.9m) was only made available assuming that England Basketball was able to produce a robust strategy for growing the whole sport.

Sport England’s chief executive Jennie Price, therapy said: “England Basketball has not demonstrated the necessary focus on improving its plans for increasing participation, despite continued support and encouragement to do so. This was an important factor in our decision”.

As a result of the decision, England Basketball’s ‘whole sport plan’ revenue funding will not see the potential increase over the next two years. 

Subject to performance, it will now remain at its current level of £1.35m ($2.15m) per year, until March 2013.

Price added: “The Board has not taken this decision lightly, but from the outset of this funding period Sport England has been clear that poor performance would lead to a governing body’s overall funding levels being reviewed”.

“As an investor of public funds, we have a responsibility to ensure that our investment is properly managed and delivers value for money. We remain firmly committed both to the sport of basketball and to working with England Basketball on our remaining investment to support the development of the sport”.