It was with great excitement, in mid-November when the container of Lusum basketballs arrived to our Oxfordshire warehouse. It had been a painstaking effort by the Lusum team to get a basketball that was suitable for use indoors and outdoors but have the authentic leather appearance, whilst also being visually appealing and at a great price. We have talked at length about the cost of balls across all sports - rugby, football, basketball.....et all, and how the cost of sponsoring teams, leagues and players adds to the cost of the product to the end user. In some cases by as much as 25% extra. Imagine you wanted to buy a £30 ball the cost of the companies marketing budget could be adding as much as £7.50 to this ball. We know of some Elite quality footballs and rugby balls that are selling in excess of £110 so the additional cost to the user could be £27.50 or more. The cost to manufacture the ball would probably be no more than £12 including all shipping and import duties. Who is getting ripped off, we ask? There are people who compare the quality of balls by the price alone, obviously the £32 ball is better than the £24 ball? Well not in all cases, as you should look to see what endorsements the brand has with governing bodies and league sponsorships, to see if you are likely to be paying extra for the ball to cover these costs. I digress though, back to the launch of the Lusum Optio Basketball (pictured below). This ball has an rrp of £34.99 to mirror the price of similar quality balls but, as Lusum do not seek endorsements or sponsor clubs, leagues or players they can pass the cost saving directly through to the customer, saving in excess of 25%.
Lusum Optio Basketball
The quality of this ball is superb and i am convinced it would get FIBA approval if Lusum were looking to get the ball endorsed. This would add at least £5 to the cost of each ball and Lusum think this an unnecessary cost to the end user. The synthetic leather ball is a match quality ball with a training ball price and is available in sizes 5, 6 and 7. If clubs want to save huge sums of money on their ball purchasing then this ball must be tried to compare with other brands.
