NBL: Division One Men Formalised Standards Requirements

CATEGORY

RATIONALE DESCRIPTION

DEFINED REQUIREMENTS

ELIGIBILITY

CLUB GOVERNANCE

Legal Entity

Club is properly constituted and incorporated to ensure minimal risk & professional governance

Optimal status to thrive and grow

• Formal legal entity registered with Companies House

Financial Viability, Transparency & Management

Club Management Structure & Roles

To ensure every NBL1 club is:

(i)      financially sustainable and viable to complete the season and beyond

(ii)     has rigour & personnel skills to manage/maximise income & minimise/manage expenditure

(iii)    has good financial governance control compliant with financial law (e.g. VAT registration if required/appropriate, making tax digital etc)

Ensuring better consistency of functions & roles between clubs to enable collective collaboration Enable appropriate capacity & capability to deliver all club operations & standards

Exemplar club to enhance game appeal & reputation in readiness for commercial investment

Enable enhanced sustainability & succession planning

• Medium term financial plan (minimum 3 years) Separate Club Bank Account with more than two signatories
• Managing transactions & accounts through approved financial accounting software (e.g. Xero, QuickBooks, Sage)

Appointed External Accountants

Meets Club Management specification document requirements for Year 0 by May 2024.

[All 11 functions covered; Max 3 functions per person/role; Minimum 5 senior club management personnel incl. Head Coach]

FACILITY / VENUE

Security of Tenure

Ensure club can fulfil fixtures for the next 12 months without any issues

• Owned Venue; or
• Formal signed contract/lease for minimum 12- month usage at designated times; or
• Written assurance from venue owner where club is embedded within owned organisation (e.g. University)

Minimum Seating - 250

Ensure club has capacity to promote events/fixtures to grow the audience to enhance commercial readiness

• Minimum 250 seats available for every home league & Cup game

PRODUCT DELIVERY

GAME DAY EXPERIENCE

PA/Announcer/Commentary

To ensure an element of minimal consistency and enhancement of the product from the outset with regards to fan engagement and game day experience

• PA/Announcer at every home game
• Music
• Team Introductions
• In-Game Live Commentary/Fan Engagement

LIVE STATS

FIBA Live Stats

To provide all stats for NBL D1 to enable fan engagement, player tracking and content production to promote the overall product

• Mandatory use of FIBA Live Stats software for the provision of statistics at every game
• 'Back Up Plan' in place should there be personnel, connection or internet issues
• Stats uploaded within one hour of game end should 'Back Up Plan' fail for whatever reason for there be an issue with 'Live Stats'

FAN DATA

Collection of Fan Data

To start to build commercial readiness where 'data is king'. This will enable clubs to segment and tailor communications to fans along with enhance promotion of games to increase attendances

• Collection of fan data for each home game to be delivered through online ticketing system even for 'on the day' attendees as recommended by IVM

Minimum Spectators

Whilst minimum seating is a provision for eligibility the number of spectators is required to raise the profile, game day experience & make content & media look attractive for everyone involved. This also starts to build the product for commercial readiness

• Minimum 100 spectators at every game

PLAYER WELFARE & SUPPORT

In-Game Court-side provision

At this level of the game with professional, semi- professional and high-level amateur players, the professionalism of player welfare and care should be of high quality

• HOME TEAM: to provide a Physio or Sports Therapist at every game courtside for the full duration of the game & one hour post-game
• AWAY TEAM: to provide Sports Therapist for every game but in event not possible the minimum is a fully qualified first-aider with the team court-side

Note:

Minimum qualification for physio/sports therapist is either fully qualified or final year of trainee course - this is in addition to first aid provision at the venue itself

Off-Court Treatment/Rehab

In order to maintain high quality playing standards, to build the attractiveness of the product for commercial readiness and for the clubs and league to be attractive to potential high-quality players, a minimum standard of post-game and rehab/treatment provision should be available

• Access to fully qualified physio provision
• Access to fully qualified sports therapist provision

MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA

Game Content Production

Every club, alongside BE, should collectively be promoting the game to achieve the agreed objective of growing the reach and profile of the sport through 'QUALITY EXPOSURE' - creating visibility, media attention, and positive publicity for the sport more widely

SOCIAL MEDIA

Pre-Game

i) Pre-game 'game day' social post, incl links to: tickets, preview (if available), livestats, livestream

In-Game

i) In-game highlights clips/pictures for home games;

ii) in-game quarter-score updates

iii) selected pics/clips to be collab-ed on IG with @NBLEngland;

iv) full-time result within 30 minutes on game finishing.

Post-Game:

i) Post-game highlight clips/pictures within 2 hours;

ii) @NBLEngland tagged in all posts

CLUB WEBSITE

POST-GAME: Match result updated with one hour MATCH REPORT: Match report within 24 hours - promoted on social channels

OTHER

Upload pics/clips to NBL within 24 hours (these images can be accessed by away teams, others etc; bank of stock images for all teams to use)

Social Media Presence

• Club has social media presence on at least 3 of the following channels:

i) Instagram ii) X iii) TikTok iv) Facebook

• Club has dedicated marketing/social media person suitably qualified/experienced in line with the new

'Club Management' specification document