This was the beginning of a membership crisis for the Carlsberg League, with no fewer than seven teams withdrawing from the competition by the start of the 1989–90 season.

The addition of Sheffield Sharks (from the NBL) and the London-based Leopards in 1994 ushered in a new era for the League, with both teams utilising multimillion-pound arenas to stage home games.

To increase playing standards and game quality, the League amended its rules a year later to allow teams to include five imported players on their roster.

The spell of dominance from the South was broken by Birmingham's two Championship Final's victories in 1996 and 1998, against the Towers and Thames Valley Tigers respectively.

Towers had dominated the South, whilst Giants gained revenge on Sheffield, pipping them to the Northern Conference crown.

The new millennium saw yet another name change as the competition was rebranded as the British Basketball League Championship following the end of Darylea's sponsorship in 2000 and the 2000–01 season saw one of the biggest upsets in BBL history as Leicester Riders, who finished with a 17–19 record in the regular season and were the lowest seeded team in the play-offs, went all the way to take the Championship silverware with a 75–84 in the Final over Sheffield.

Following that season the League's TV broadcasting deal transferred from BSkyB to ITV Digital in a three-year contract agreement.

[2] Just months later the Manchester Giants became the first franchise to be removed from the competition by League officials due to unfulfilling a fixture and a lack of finance.

[3] By the end of the campaign though, the BBL had lost another franchise following Derby Storm's decision to withdraw, and the collapse of ITV Digital during the summer of 2002 brought financial instability to the League and due to the decreased membership, the competition abolished its Conference structure and returned to a single league format.

Plymouth Raiders, a powerhouse of the lower divisions, stepped up to the BBL in 2004 and joined as the Championship's eleventh team.

The summer of 2006 saw major upheaval within the BBL's membership as three long-standing franchises – Birmingham Bullets, Brighton Bears and London Towers – all withdrew from the League.

Challenging Newcastle's dominance were Leicester Riders who, despite finishing as Finalists in 2012 to Eagles, claimed a treble the following season with victories in the League, Championship Play-offs and BBL Cup.

The competition features all member teams playing a 30-game regular season (in a round robin format), from September through to April.

At the end of the regular season, the team with the most points is crowned as winners of the BBL Championship, and thus British Champions.

The postseason BBL Playoffs usually takes place in April and May, featuring the top eight ranked teams from the regular season compete in a knockout tournament.