Nick Nurse celebrated a major three-year sponsorship deal for Brighton Bears and set his sights on a return to the summit of the British League.

Bears have clinched "substantial" backing from Genesis, an international freight forwarding business based in Eastbourne.

The club have also appointed Tim Rudge, who previously worked for the league, Newcastle Eagles and Birmingham Bullets, as operations manager.

Nurse, on a flying visit from his summer job in Oklahoma, and Rudge shook hands with Genesis group chief executive Doug Currie, who was keen to back Bears despite seeing them thrashed by Newcastle on his only recent visit to a game.

The club will be known as Genesis Brighton Bears.

Nurse said: "We believe in our product, we believe there is a lot of value in it from the family aspect and the business aspect and this gives us the chance to prove ourselves.

"The length of the deal is great and I like the sound of the Genesis Brighton Bears. This is the beginning."

Currie, who became a keen NBA follower while working for Genesis in the United States, said his company were offering substantial backing, though neither party are revealing figures.

The deal is, however, the most significant backing Bears have attracted since before Nurse arrived at the club in 2001.

Currie said: "If you start talking about figures it detracts from what we're trying to achieve here.

"We're trying to increase our profile nationally and internationally.

"We're going to promote this through our five locations in the States as well."

Fans will hope the backing helps Bears return to the top of the league while Nurse is confident Currie has already seen them hit rock bottom when he attended last season's BBL Trophy final hammering by Newcastle at the Brighton Centre.

Nurse said: "I always say the team's not going to play well every now and again but it shouldn't detract from a family coming and having a great time.

"Doug still thought it was pretty cool and it wasn't even our own event. It was a league event.

"We think we do our events a little better than the league does so I'm not too afraid to bring people down for the first time to see what it's all about.

"Last year we finished fifth and that's the first time in the last eight years one of my teams hasn't finished in the top two.

"We didn't splash out tons of money last year and I still thought we had a title-winning team until we got unlucky with some bad injuries.

"The year before we probably did splash a little money as we were playing in Europe and we ended up winning the league."

Currie added: "I'd like to see them win the league but most importantly I'd like to see them match up to their true potential.

"Basketball is vibrant, it's energetic and it gives a good positive image which is something we also try to do at Genesis."