When the red button option on BBC One offers up British basketball on Sunday, May 10, it may not seem all that earth shattering to most.

But for the British basketball fraternity it will represent enormous strides forward for a sport which has struggled for decades to break into the UK mainstream, despite its global appeal and stratospheric success across the pond.

The British Basketball League (BBL) comprises 13 teams from across the nation, from Glasgow to Plymouth. But its appeal to sport-loving British public has been minimal since the league’s inception in the 1980s.

But when the two teams who contest the BBL Play-Off final at a sold-out O2 Arena in London next month step out onto the court, they will be doing so with the greatest exposure the sport in this country has ever known.

The BBL was covered, briefly, by Sky Sports in the late 90s and early 2000s, and they currently operate their own channel, BBL TV, streamed through their website, with highlights shown on Eurosport.

But that has always been aimed at a niche market. After all, crowds in the BBL vary from the low hundreds to around the 2,000 mark.

The game in this country has many flaws and is light years behind where it should be as spectator sport. A lack of vision and investment in the past has seen the league almost accept its lowly position in the market place.

But there is a sense that the tide could be turning and the deal with the BBC to show the showpiece final, which could yet be contested by Cheshire Phoenix should they negotiate their way through the tricky knockout stages, will open up the game to a whole new audience.

It won’t serve as the panacea for all the ills of the British game but it will most certainly provide it with a shot in the arm and help to attract bigger sponsors – a vital lifeblood.

The Olympic legacy certainly didn’t trickle down to British basketball. In fact, such was the poor level performance of the Great Britain teams at London 2012 the funding for the sport at an elite level was removed by UK Sport.

Since then, emergency funding has been put in place but their needs to be a concerted effort to push the game forward.

Nobody is expecting the NBA or crowds the size of which could fill Madison Square Garden. But the red button, however small it may appear, marks a big step in the right direction.