Premier League club owners could set up professional basketball teams to play in a new British league under their football brand names as part of a US-led $25m (£15.7m) plan being launched today.

US owners such as Manchester United’s Glazer family, Liverpool’s Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and Aston Villa’s Randy Lerner are investor targets of the new British Basketball Association, led by a group of former US National Basketball Association executives and US businessmen.