Interview: Leeds Force owner talks transitioning to ‘create a basketball legacy’

After entering Britain’s top-tier professional basketball league in just 2014, Leeds Force were able to finish in eighth position and compete in the BBL playoffs for the first time last season.

Following a competitive two legged tie against former BBL champions Leicester Riders, Leeds were knocked out of the playoff race. However, the team’s successful 2015/16 campaign created a buzz amongst basketball fans in Yorkshire and showed that Leeds’ newest professional sports franchise is becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Currently playing home games at the Carnegie Sports Arena on the Headingley Campus of Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Force is one of the smaller franchises of the BBL. But as the team continues to work towards becoming a premier basketball powerhouse, Bdaily wanted to take a look behind the scenes at the Force and find out who is leading the charge.

As a result, I recently spoke with Mark Mills, one of the owners of Leeds Force. Mark told Bdaily about his decision to leave his National Account Manager role with Levi’s to try and “create a basketball legacy to leave behind,” which began with taking over Leeds as a startup business.

Speaking about his business background, Mark said: “I graduated with a Marketing degree from Bournemouth University. I then went straight into the Kelloggs graduate programme, where I spent a year. From this I moved across to PUMA as a Retail Marketing Manager. In this role I covered the design and implementation of marketing campaigns within the retail environment to increase sell through of product and raise brand awareness amongst key consumers.

“I was then promoted within PUMA to Lifestyle Account Manager where I was tasked with increasing not only the distribution of the brands more lifestyle/fashion ranges such as Alexander McQueen collaboration but also maintaining and developing the brands identity with key opinion formers within the market. In total I spent 5 years with PUMA before being head hunted for the National Account Manager role with Levi’s.

“At Levi’s I was responsible for the John Lewis and Shop Direct accounts which combined were worth approx £15m per annum. This made it the second largest account base behind Debenhams. This role was about creating efficiencies in the trading practices with these accounts such as stock management and range planning. I was with Levi’s for two years and in that time we managed to increase both accounts by over 25% in their pre-orders.”

Despite achieving considerable success in his career, Mark stated:

“However like many people I came to the realisation that working for someone else wasn’t going to motivate me in the long run.”

He explained: “So I started soul searching about where did I want to be and what did I want to do with my professional life. I came to the realisation that my overall goal was that I wanted to give something back to a sport that had given me so much throughout my life, basketball. It may sound corny but I work everyday to try and create a basketball legacy to leave behind. I would love to think that because of the work and sacrifice that I have put into the sport that it is in a better shape than it would have been if I hadn’t. It is quite a simple objective and one I find to be eternally motivating.”

So in 2010, Mark decided to leave Levi’s and set out on his journey in creating a basketball ‘legacy.’ But this was no easy task.

Mark told me: “I didn’t know what I wanted to do with basketball when I left Levi’s so I just put myself into as many basketball networks as possible. This included setting up my own website and covering GB in Eurobasket tournaments in Lithuania and Slovenia, World Championships in Turkey and also every single game at the London 2012 Olympics.

“Alongside this I was coaching, reffing, commentating and providing commercial advice to a club in Bradford. It was this commercial consultancy that would lead me to where I am today.

“I was asked by Leeds Met Uni to move across and assist them in commercialising their basketball operation in preparation for their move up into the fully professional league. After just over a year into the role, and only 2 months before the start of our first season in the UK’s top flight, the university changed their direction and wanted the club to move away from university ownership and control.”

Leeds Force battling against Leicester Riders

The university’s sudden decision to not enter a professional league proved to be a pivotal point in Mark’s involvement with the team.

He explained: “This left myself and the team’s Head Coach, Matt Newby, with a difficult decision. We either took the project on ourselves or the club would no longer exist. In hindsight it was the best/easiest professional decision I have ever made. We took it on as equal partners (Matt covered everything on the court and I covered everything off the court) and launched Leeds Force, as a new startup company, straight into the UK’s top flight basketball league, the BBL, for the 2014/15 season.

“We are now three years in and, as with the majority of startups, it has been tough work to make it successful but we are getting there. Crowds are up, income is up and we are winning games against teams that have been around for over 50 years and have numerous pieces of silverware under their belts. This culminated in the team making history last season by making it to the playoffs. We played our last 5 games in front of near sell out crowds and the atmosphere was off the scale.”

As for the future of the Leeds Force, Mark is already taking steps to guarantee that professional basketball remains in West Yorkshire.

He revealed: “I am now making plans for the club’s future and the development of our own arena is key to this. The opportunity to take our destiny into our own hands and secure the future of professional basketball in West Yorkshire is amazing, considering that we almost didn’t exist just 3 years ago. It is no exaggeration to say that if we can bring together the necessary expertise, partners and finance we could be playing in European competitions in front of 3,000 fans in our very own arena within 5 years.

“A major, and critical part, of this development is finding the right people to work with the club. This itself has been an exciting process as the proposition of working with a professional sports club that is growing within a sport that is growing has attracted the attention of a very high level of individual. At the moment we are still receiving contact from interested parties on a weekly basis and I hope that over the next few months we will be in a position to finalise an advisory board that will assist the club it making these giants leaps. It is the member’s of this group that will shape and guide the future progression of the club so getting the right people who embrace the club fully is vital.

Although Mark admits that “basketball is not something the people of Leeds have grown up with,” he does believe that “once they come there is no challenge in getting them to come back.”

Mark said: “I have seen basketball newbies converted to fanatics in just 4 quarters of Leeds Force basketball. The amazing thing about Leeds Force, and basketball in general, is that it is so inclusive. It appeals to all no matter of age or gender. We see grandparents bringing their teenage grandchildren, students from the city’s universities, young families and young professionals all sitting next to each other enjoying the same experience. There are very few businesses that can attract, satisfy and retain a market that broad.”

Ticket sales are a major part of the business model at Leeds Force, but Mark also explained local businesses who sponsor the team tend to receive a “vast return on their investment.”

“We have recently launched a weekly hour long show on Made In Leeds which has attracted viewing figures around 20,000, that is higher than the NBA receives on BT Sport.”

“We now can offer Leeds-based businesses not only an opportunity to give something back to this amazing city but a great opportunity to increase their brand exposure in such a positive and popular way. Basketball sponsorship is not on the same levels as football, rugby or cricket it really does make sports sponsorship accessible for all levels of business and provides great returns.”

As for Mark working towards creating his basketball legacy, he concluded: “I am keen for Leeds Force to be a club for the city and West Yorkshire as whole to be proud of. It would give me so much pleasure for this club to carry the White Rose around European competition.

“To achieve this we know that we must be actively looking to attract and engaged with people who have an interest in becoming involved with the club. Be that as a fan, a sponsor, a volunteer on game night or even as part of the advisory board. I just say to people reach out to us and you won’t be disappointed. Leeds Force is just that, we are gathering momentum and our future is very bright.”

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