BCU Wolverhampton, newly promoted to EBL Division 2, will find themselves sharing a venue with a BBL team this season.

Wolverhampton have played at the Walsall campus of Wolverhampton University for the past three seasons (since they changed their name from Walsall Wizards), but now they will find that BBL new boys Birmingham Panthers will also be using the venue, though not all their games will be on the same day as each other.

It has been confirmed that the Team Birmingham Panthers will play out of the University of Wolverhampton, Walsall campus, for the 2007/08 British Basketball League season.
The team's first home game of the BBL Championship campaign will be the East vs. West Midlands derby against the Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders on Saturday 6th October (8.00pm tip-off).

The Panthers' Chief Executive, Herman Wilson, made the following comments, "The Panthers are delighted to confirm that we will be playing in Walsall this season, it brings to an end a troublesome period for the club that was caused by circumstances beyond our control.

"We would like to thank the University of Wolverhampton for their support in our search for a venue. The modern centre provides ample facilities and we hope that we can make it an intimidating place for opposition teams to come and play.

"Thanks must also go to the other venues that we have been in discussions with, but Walsall was seen as the most appropriate of a number of possibilities.

"Most importantly, we have managed to keep the franchise in the Birmingham area and can now look forward to providing a competitive BBL club for the region's fans. That starts with our revenge mission against the Riders this Saturday."

The move was forced upon the club due to the unforeseen circumstances befalling the Aston Events Centre over the Summer, that have rendered it unusable for members of the public and resulted in its closing.

The franchise's management team considered a number of venues around Britain's second city and Walsall was confirmed as the most viable according to considerations about location and suitability for professional basketball at this level.

The venue, which is less than 10 miles from the centre of Birmingham, has indeed hosted BBL basketball previously in recent seasons, as the Panthers' predecessors in Birmingham welcomed the Marshall MK Lions in a league game back in 2005/06.

The Panthers and Riders have already met once this season, with Leicester running out 101-79 victors in a fiery game on the opening weekend of the season. Tickets for the game will be priced at £8 for adults and £5 for children, and will be available on the door.