Designing the courts of the British Basketball League and others (Retro Night!)

[DukeofChutney]

Well, no sooner as I clicked submit on the above reply, insperation struck.

 

So now, the next in the 'What if..?" in this thread, the Raiders took the M5 up to the Second City.

 

I ditched the green (more of a Plymouth colour) and took the blue from the flag of Birmingham. The also takes inspiration from the city's flag (zig zag and all), with the yellow and red being swapped for Raiders white and orange.

 

It may not be the stylish court in the series.

 

 

[DukeofChutney]

Well I guess the 'BBL What if.." Raiders has given me some inspiration. So, here's another fantasy court.

 

Slightly different this time - I'm not using an existing basketball teams logo, but rather a defunct ice hockey teams logo.

 

The Edingburgh Captials played from 1998 until 2018 when they lost the contact to use the ice at their arena. The Scottish capital has been without a basketball team since the Rocks took the M8 and moved to Glasgow for the '02-'03 season.

 

The Caps logo was one of the best in the EIHL, if not all of British sport, and I wondered what it'd look like on a court. So, here we have, the Edinburgh Captials BC.

 

(side note: there's no major arena in Edinburgh, so I've just made a generic logo)

[DukeofChutney]

Another short update. Another one of the NBL teams that has often been connected with a move up to the BBL is Reading. Whether is will eventually happens remains to be seen, but if they did - here's what their court could look like.

 

Reading Rockets

Reading, Berkshire, England
NBL D1 Championships: 3

[johnrafael]

The Rockets court is great. I'd only change the font around the court. The stretched font looks very strange to me.

[DukeofChutney]

You're right there. I switched the font at the last minute and stretched it out for some daft reason (the previous one - a knock off of the NASA font fit better).

 

Here's the revised one. I've reduced the hashtag too - was a bit overbearing on the previous.

 

[johnrafael]

Now that's a 11/10! Perfect!

[DukeofChutney]

haha really!? Wow thanks.

 

Even with that Rockets logo? 

[DukeofChutney]

It almost passed me by that the London Lions have a new logo for the '21-'22 season. Its.. very different to thier old one (which strangely they still use on their website). Yes, that is the logo of the London Lions.

 

They have kept the black and white scheme from '20-'21 (prior to that they were in Lakers yellow and purple.). They have also added a redish trim colour, which is sparingly used in the jersey trim.

 

The  logo is not solid, but I've added the white as a background so it stands out a bit more on the court.  I've also added their secondary LDN logo ... but I'm not sure it works there.
They use a caligrigraphic script font on their promos for upcoming games on Twitter, so I've tried to find a similer font that I had for the hashtag.

 

Comments welcome - even if you want to offer an opinon on their change in logo (rather than me start a new thread in the sports logo section).

 

[TheSquirrel]

What other What If’s could you do 

[DukeofChutney]

^Good question. I could certainly look into the rest of the NBL, and there's also the SNBL in Scotland. They've got some great sounding teams, such as the Boroughmuir Blaze and Dunfermline Reign - just that their logos might need a little plussing.

 

There are a few other (well, a lot) of defunct teams from the BBL as well. Such as the Brighton Bears or the Mersey Tigers.

 

Thanks for starting the ball rolling again!

[TheSquirrel]

Well, I researched the Brighton bears and a small team called the Sussex Bears are currently having a look at sites in Brighton for a new arena which could be over double the BBL minimum capacity of 1,500 and the concepts show the arena will be called the Brighton Bears Basketball Arena.

[TheSquirrel]

I looked it’s not named what I said but it does says Brighton Bears and there is a claw logo on the exterior but is used by the Sussex Bears which looks good and the town will probably get a expansion team in the BBL when they expand from 10 to 12.

[DukeofChutney]

Oh wow. Great find!

I'd thought that the Brighton Bears had just morphed into the Worthing Thunder (another team on the 'to do' list), so its great to see another team in that area.

 

The claw logo is pretty nifty too.. getting Memphis Grizzlies vibes from it. Which is not a bad thing...

They're certainly on the 'to do' list as well. Of course, as a 'What if..?" rebrand of the Brighton Bears.

 

[TheSquirrel]

 

9 minutes ago, DukeofChutney said:

Oh wow. Great find!

I'd thought that the Brighton Bears had just morphed into the Worthing Thunder (another team on the 'to do' list), so its great to see another team in that area.

 

The claw logo is pretty nifty too.. getting Memphis Grizzlies vibes from it. Which is not a bad thing...

They're certainly on the 'to do' list as well. Of course, as a 'What if..?" rebrand of the Brighton Bears.

 

Do you mean what if the Sussex Bears get that new arena and rebrand into the Brighton Bears but with the same claw logo but probably different font, colour and jerseys, so they can become a BBL team.

[TheSquirrel]

How about you do a BBL Allstar Weekend in someone like Birmingham so you can do a Court for the Allstar Game then have the 2 teams be north & south 

[DukeofChutney]

1 minute ago, TheSquirrel said:

 

Do you mean what if the Sussex Bears get that new arena and rebrand into the Brighton Bears but with the same claw logo but probably different font, colour and jerseys, so they can become a BBL team.

I'd say so, yes.  Alternatively ... and a real  "What if..?" situation, they return from Worthing and re-brand as the Bears again. I'll try and figure out which scenario works. After all a  Worthing Thunder and Brighton Bears rivialry would be quite something.

[DukeofChutney]

1 minute ago, TheSquirrel said:

How about you do a BBL Allstar Weekend in someone like Birmingham so you can do a Court for the Allstar Game then have the 2 teams be north & south 

I like your thinking!

 

I've been toying with All-Star Weekends at the four biggest arenas (London, Glasgow, Newcastle and Birmingham) - they'd rotate hosting the game each year.

 

And I've also thought of a North/South conference. Its been tricky trying to get it balanced just right. Both conferences have a long distance team (Plymouth in the South, Glasgow in the North) but I guess on that front it makes it equal on all teams in that conference.

[DukeofChutney]

A quick addition to the collection - I'd already drafted the logo from a old ice hockey project years ago, so I've dusted it off  for this series.

 

A brief bit of history.

 

The London Racers were an ice hockey team launched in 2003 and claimed to be the successor to the Harringey Racers which dated back to 1936. Yep Great Britain has ice hockey back then too...  the national team even beat Canada to Gold in that year's winter Olympics.

 

Sadly, the Racers only lasted until the 2006-07 season, due to lack of suitable ice. Initially they played at the Alexandra Palace, before moving to the Lea Valley Ice Centre.

 

We've seen plenty of teams come and go in the captial, and sadly for numerous reasons they just haven't been able to last. Its bizarre that a region with 8.8m populous does not have at least two teams, but sadly that's the nature of minority sports in the UK.

 

However, for the purposes of this court, London just can't get enough of basketball!

 

I've decided against using the original red and white of the original Racers, instead going for British Racing Green. I've also decided that they should return to the Grade II listed Alexandra Palace, which probably in reality wouldn't house basketball. But, darn it, it just sounds cool! Plus, being it'd make it the oldest area in the league as it originally opened in 1875.

 

I've added the alternate vintage logo for the Racers as well as the historic AP logo on the court - I'm just concerned that makes it look cluttered.

 

Anyway... enough ramble, here's the 2022-23 London Racers.

[TheSquirrel]

20 minutes ago, DukeofChutney said:

A quick addition to the collection - I'd already drafted the logo from a old ice hockey project years ago, so I've dusted it off  for this series.

 

A brief bit of history.

 

The London Racers were an ice hockey team launched in 2003 and claimed to be the successor to the Harringey Racers which dated back to 1936. Yep Great Britain has ice hockey back then too...  the national team even beat Canada to Gold in that year's winter Olympics.

 

Sadly, the Racers only lasted until the 2006-07 season, due to lack of suitable ice. Initially they played at the Alexandra Palace, before moving to the Lea Valley Ice Centre.

 

We've seen plenty of teams come and go in the captial, and sadly for numerous reasons they just haven't been able to last. Its bizarre that a region with 8.8m populous does not have at least two teams, but sadly that's the nature of minority sports in the UK.

 

However, for the purposes of this court, London just can't get enough of basketball!

 

I've decided against using the original red and white of the original Racers, instead going for British Racing Green. I've also decided that they should return to the Grade II listed Alexandra Palace, which probably in reality wouldn't house basketball. But, darn it, it just sounds cool! Plus, being it'd make it the oldest area in the league as it originally opened in 1875.

 

I've added the alternate vintage logo for the Racers as well as the historic AP logo on the court - I'm just concerned that makes it look cluttered.

 

Anyway... enough ramble, here's the 2022-23 London Racers.

Did you create the logo yourself

[DukeofChutney]

Sadly no. Both are from the defunct London Racers - I just switched it to BRG instead of red.