The BAL
The BAL, the Besecker American League, started as a summer basketball league in Lancaster in 2021. Six seasons later it's two leagues, 10 basketball teams, 500+ sign-ups a year and 37K followers. I co-founded it with my brother and do a little bit of everything.
Getting people back together
My brother Johnny and I started BBAL in the summer of 2021. Coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, we wanted to give people in our community a reason to get back together, and a summer basketball league was the way to do it.
The first season was 60 players on six teams, with almost no following.
| 2021 | Now | |
|---|---|---|
| BBAL teams | 6 | 10 |
| Rostered players | 60 | 150+ |
| ~0 | 37K |
A little bit of everything
Setting up on game days, running a team, shooting photos, making the ads, designing merch, filming Q&A interviews with players. Whatever the league needs that week.
BBAL is the basketball league. BWAL, the Besecker Wiffleball American League, runs under the same banner. Together they're The BAL.
Post consistently. Run a league people love.
There wasn't one big moment. The growth came from posting consistently and putting on something the community genuinely loves. A few videos went viral along the way.
Today more than 500 people sign up each year, 150+ make the final rosters across 10 teams, and The BAL's Instagram has 37K followers.
Part of our Sundays
Jimmy Juice sends us a pallet of product before every season, so it's at every game and in the hands of the community. We run ads for them on our channels.
The relationship has been great. They've become an integral part of our Sundays.
