Following last week’s statement, basketballscotland would like to thank the Scottish basketball community for their words of support regarding proposed changes to hall hire prices in Edinburgh.

As mentioned in our statement, the new pricing will lead to membership of clubs significantly decreasing at a time of continued growth and success for our sport, while a number of clubs may be forced to close down.

basketballscotland has publicly responded to proposed changes for pricing within Edinburgh that will see a number of member Clubs suffer an increase in access to facilities across Edinburgh. The decision to do so was based on a number of factors. These factors include:

  • The issues relating to proposed facility hire increasing is time sensitive – the clubs affected and basketballscotland received news of the proposed changes only a short time ago and have until July to influence a positive outcome before clubs are forced to find alternatives
  • With such a sharp rise in hall hire (254% per hour for juniors and 176.7% for adults during non-core hours), there is significant risk that clubs and their members will be unable to participate in basketball and there is significant risk that our clubs will have to reduce their services or close down.

To date, we have engaged with a number of politicians who are concerned about the impact of the pricing, and are actively in conversation with them and with other indoor sports and organisations.

We are aware that clubs in other parts of Scotland have, or will, be subject to similar changes by their own local authority or leisure trust. This issue is impacting our community outside of Edinburgh and is of national significance.

We are aware that clubs in other local authorities may have, or will be subject to, similar pricing models by their local authority or leisure trust, and that this is an issue impacting our basketball community outside of Edinburgh. We believe this issue is of national significance and our team of Club Services Managers are here to support where possible.

Should you have any concerns about pricing issues locally, please raise them with your regional Club Services Manager, details of which can be found HERE.

basketballscotland are committed to working with clubs to ensure the growth of the sport we love, and that provides so much benefit to individuals and communities, and we will continue to publicly voice the concerns of its member clubs.