Basketball Team To Move Into Copper Box
MK Lions will play in the Copper Box arena in the London 2012 Olympic Park, following this summer’s Games. The Milton Keynes-based British Basketball League side were forced to leave their ground at Bletchley Leisure Centre and had hoped to play in the arena next to the stadium:mk, but this fell through and have reportedly been unable to acquire a new home locally.
However, the club now appears to have secured a move to the £43 million, 6,000 capacity facility that hosted the Olympic handball competition.
The basketball team will be one of several organisations to use arena, which will be the third biggest facility of its kind in London, and is also expected to be used as a major community facility, as well as staging concerts and exhibitions.
Greenwich Leisure Limited were appointed in January to run the multi-use facility after the Games, which is expected to attract up to 500,000 visitors per year.
With the Olympics still ongoing and the new BBL season just over six weeks away, the rebranded London Lions will not be able to move into the Copper Box until next year, but will instead play their home games – the first against league champions Newcastle Eagles on 23rd September at the Crystal Palace National Indoor Arena.
