Outdoor courts offer the unique opportunity for players to play and practise on their own, join friends and play together casual games of 1v1, 2v2, 3x3 etc. or play 5v5 full court games.
These outdoor settings can be used by clubs and recreational players for informal games or more structured competitions, such as 3x3 tournaments and summer leagues.
There a many things to consider when renovating a court such as the playing surface, court markings, equipment, fencing and lighting.
In the page below there's loads of information and guidance on everything you need for renovating an outdoor court, working to secure funding on your potential plans, line markings, new equipment and more.
The official FIBA line markings for full court 5v5 basketball and half court 3x3 basketball are available below.
Having the correct line markings is high on the list of priorities when players are looking for places to play. Even if there isn’t space for a full court, players appreciate partial line markings such as the restricted area or 3-point line.
We want to facilitate a network of inspiring outdoor courts to allow people to play basketball in a safe and suitable space.
Through an expansion of our #ProjectSwish initiative, Basketball England provides thousands of free basketball nets each summer along with support, advice and a framework to help create great spaces to play and give basketball.
We want individuals, clubs and local authorities - with our help – to provide opportunities to play by renovating local courts. If you are thinking about starting an outdoor court renovation project for your local court in need, please check out are court renovation guide.
If you’re considering an outdoor court renovation project you’ll need to create a budget. Click the button below for some guide prices based on recent projects we have been involved with.
Please note that for accurate costs including supply, delivery and installation it is best to have a site visit from an outdoor sports contractor who can provide accurate prices specific to your project.
All costs are based on a single basketball court sized area.
Once you have permission from the court owner, and a budget for the works to be undertaken, you can start to look for funding.
You can research potential funding opportunities and build relationships with potential funding organisations but, in order to stand the best chance of succeeding with your funding applications, make sure that you have the permission from the court owner, a budget and quotes for works. This way funders can see that you are serious, organised and have a worthwhile and realisable project to support.
As well as considering applying to funding organisations for support, another opportunity is to consider crowd funding. Many of the recent outdoor court renovation projects we have been involved in have started with the local basketball community utilising crowd funding platforms to raise awareness, support and funds towards projects.
Crowd funding is a great way to demonstrate to other potential funders that there is a real interest from the local community for a project and raising funding for your project may also help leverage investment from other funders who require matched funding.
Some crowd funding platforms allow rewards for people donating to the project, examples could be a free coaching session, tickets to a basketball game, a donators name/business on the backboard, a t-shirt created specifically for the project, the options are endless.
The Orchard Park Project is a current example of an outdoor project that has utilised crowd funding.
If you do decide to give rewards via your crowd funding efforts, don’t forget to factor in any costs for purchasing and shipping the items into your project, along with any platform fees the crowd funding sites may have.
BE have a limited number of Wilson #ProjectSwish basketballs we can use to support crowd funding efforts for outdoor courts. Let us know about your project by emailing [email protected]
There are a lot of potential sources for funding but not every funder supports basketball court projects. Sources of funding vary greatly between different projects. For a list of funding agencies, click the button below.
If you’re in need of spare parts, new rings, backboards or brand new units, we have a great range of Sure Shot outdoor basketball equipment on the Basketball England Shop.
If you're looking for replacement backboards or rings for one of the Outdoor Basketball Initiative units (known as the Adidas rings!) we have the full range of spares.
A new backboard, custom printed vinyl wrap and a new ring can rejuvenate these baskets for the fraction of a price of a new one.
Basketball England collaborate to help facilitate outdoor court projects working with court owners, local authorities, funding bodies, clubs, communities and organisations who want to develop outdoor spaces for basketball. If you have a project you would like to share with us please email [email protected]
