Youth basketball is one of the most popular sports in North America.
Just between the age groups of 6 and 14, there are over 14 million kids playing basketball in the U.S. High school basketball has almost a million young athletes. Basketball is also the fourth most popular sport for kids in Canada, with more than half a million participants each year.
So why should you start a new basketball league? There are always more opportunities to increase youth sports participation in your local community. Your area may need a recreational league to introduce young players to the game, or there may be an opportunity for off-season camps and clinics.
If you’ve considered creating a new basketball league in your community, follow these steps to get your organization off the ground.
How to create a youth basketball league
1. Define your vision and goals
The first step in starting a new basketball league is to develop a vision and goals for it. A vision will give your new league purpose and help recruit basketball players, volunteers, and sponsors. You'll be able to keep everyone on track and help your league succeed.
Get specific about the goals for your basketball league. Ask yourself the following questions:
- When will the season take place? Is this a winter league, or summer league, or will you have different seasons throughout the year?
- What age groups will be allowed to play?
- Will we be a rec league or focused on competitive travel teams?
- Will this be a co-ed league or will there be separate divisions for boys and girls?
Once you've got your league's basic vision outlined, set some goals to guide your efforts:
- How many players do you want to play in the league in the first season? What is a reasonable registration fee?
- How much fundraising will you need to do to get your first season started?
- How many sponsors will you need to reach that fundraising goal?
- How many volunteers do you need to recruit?
- Will you need to pay part-time employees like referees? Or can you operate the league with 100% volunteers?
Your mission statement, vision, and goals can also be used to help create content on your social media pages and website when the time comes to officially launch your league to the public.
2. Plan the league
Having figured out your initial mission, vision, and goals, you can start planning your first season. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- When will the first games take place?
- When will the final game of the season be? Will there be a postseason basketball tournament or playoffs?
- In order to be ready for the first game and have enough players, when should you open registration online?
- Where will games take place?
- How will you create league schedules?
- How will you get enough volunteers and staff members?
Finalize all of these details at least 6 months before the first game. This will give you plenty of time to recruit volunteers and register players.
3. Work out the logistics
The two most important logistics before opening registration are finding a facility and recruiting volunteers.
Finding a facility
Every basketball program needs a basketball court!
If you’re starting a nonprofit sports organization, try to find a free facility to use for practices and games. Is there a nearby school or church that has gym space and courts you can use?
Find a place to rent if no schools are available. Often parks and recreation centers have cheaper facilities to rent, like community centers, but you can also look for privately owned places.
Depending on your league, you might just need a facility for games, or maybe you'll need practice time at the same location throughout the week.
Finding a facility with several courts is critical for most leagues to have game and practice scheduling flexibility.
Recruiting volunteers
Volunteers are the backbone of any youth sports organization. You need to make it an exciting opportunity for them to get involved by making it fun and rewarding.
Your youth basketball league could target these groups for volunteers:
- Parents of potential players: The biggest pool of potential volunteers will be the parents of your players. Encourage them to volunteer to improve the league experience for their kids. Most of your head basketball coaches can come from this group.
- Local teenagers or college students: Many young people in your community are looking for volunteer opportunities and can be a great source for finding coaches. Rather than just working with adults, having young people lead your youth basketball league can be a good thing for the kids.
- Other community members with an affinity for basketball: There might be community members whose kids don’t play anymore, but still want to coach or manage it. Former college or high school players who want to help grow basketball in the area and have a few hours each week to coach, referee, or fundraise are another option.
Provide plenty of volunteer opportunities since some parents won't feel qualified to coach a basketball team. Make sure all of the volunteer opportunities are online and easy to sign up for.
Here are some areas to consider:
- Coaching
- Assistant Coach
- Team Admin
- Board Member
- Fundraising Committee
- League Marketing
- Referee Coordinator
You can also encourage parents to volunteer when they register a child to play. Explain in detail why it’s so important to volunteer and how volunteering impacts the kids playing in the league.
Before the season, require all volunteers to complete a background check before interacting with players to keep everyone safe and sound.
🧠 Learn more: How to Run a Youth Sports Background Check
4. Work on marketing and branding
Once you’ve decided to launch the league and coordinated the important initial logistics, you need to start marketing it.
Using social media and a website can help spread the word about your organization quickly. You may want to find a volunteer with past experience or an interest in helping with marketing. They can help create your brand, set up social media accounts, and manage your website.
You can follow these steps in order to start to generate publicity for the league:
- Create a logo and brand
- Create social media profiles
- Start player registration
After you’ve started marketing your basketball league and building some credibility, start fundraising for your first season.
Once you've created a website you can start online player registration.
5. Get sponsors
Every youth sports organization needs sponsors, but finding them can be time-consuming and difficult.
Some tips to get sponsors for your first season are:
- Provide a detailed description of why your basketball league needs sponsors on your website and social media accounts. Companies must see the impact they can make in order to get involved.
- Recognize all of your sponsors in your social media posts and on your website. You can include the company logos and links to their website.
- Send a sports sponsorship letter to local businesses in your community. You can use a template to create customized letters to each business.
- Assign one volunteer to be in charge of fundraising. Going out and speaking about your basketball league to companies in your community is a tough job!
🧠 Learn more: How to Create a Youth Sports Sponsorship Package
6. Consider league operations
Operating the league successfully will require you to have a handful of people on staff with different skill sets.
You probably want to have a board that has specific responsibilities. Here’s an example of what a volunteer youth basketball board should look like:
- President: Oversees all operations of the league and fulfills the league’s mission.
- Secretary: Records meeting minutes and schedules meetings. Holds other board members accountable for their roles.
- Treasurer: Sets up league bank accounts and develops a detailed league budget.
- Fundraising Chair: Creates a fundraising goal and coordinates all fundraising events for the league.
- Marketing and Technology Manager: Manages the basketball website, runs your social media accounts, and coordinates marketing efforts.
- Scheduling Coordinator: Creates and maintains the practice and game schedules.
- Referee Coordinator: Handles all referee training and scheduling.
- Coaching Coordinator: Schedules coach training, assigns coaches to teams, and provides basketball drills coaches can use in practice.
Make sure you take advantage of technology to help with all of the cumbersome processes of running the league. For example:
Set up your basketball league for long-term success
Starting a successful basketball league is a long-term project. In your first season, you can start small with just a few age divisions and grow from there.
Make sure everyone on your team agrees on both a long-term vision and a short-term goal. Surround yourself with a small team of dedicated volunteers. Your league shouldn't be run by just one person.
When you've had a good first season, you can focus on registering more players and building your reputation.
Create a basketball league FAQ
How do you start a local basketball league?
Here are steps to start a local basketball league:
- Create a long-term vision and short-term goals for your league.
- Recruit volunteers and build a committee of at least 5 individuals to help with all of the different tasks for the league.
- Find a facility that can be your home for games, practices, and any other events like camps and clinics.
- Start marketing your league by creating a logo, social media accounts, and a website.
- Create a basketball sign-up form to register players and collect registration fees for your first season.
- Create game schedules for your inaugural season.
- Recruit sponsors and donors to help support the league financially.
- Create goals to help with the league’s long-term success beyond the first season.
Do sports leagues make money?
Most youth basketball leagues operate as non-profit organizations and do not make money. However, they generate revenue from registration fees, sponsorships, concession sales, and other revenue streams to offset costs.
Some youth sports leagues or adult sports leagues operate as for-profit businesses, but these are less common and typically operate in regional or national tournaments.
