Taiwan’s P.League+ professional basketball league is to be represented at the inaugural season of the East Asia Super League (EASL), a basketball Champions League of Asia, which is to start with eight teams in October next year.
The champions from the P.League+, the champions and runners-up from Japan’s B.League, the Korean Basketball League and the Philippine Basketball Association, and the newly formed Hong Kong-based Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes, are to compete in the East Asia Super League for a US$1 million purse, the EASL said in a statement yesterday.
The eight teams are to be split into two groups of four, with each team to play home-and-away contests against the others in its group from October to February 2023.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The top two teams in each group are then to play in a single elimination semi-final round, with the EASL championship game in March 2023.
The P.League+ is hoping that the association with a regional league will give it wider exposure.
“Our fans love high-level basketball and can’t get enough of it,” P.League+ founder and chief executive officer Blackie Chen said. “For the P.League+, EASL is an opportunity to grow our league and elevate its level through elite competition, while gaining exposure on a pan-regional stage.”
The P.League+, which was established last year, is Taiwan’s first professional basketball league since the Chinese Basketball Alliance shut down more than 20 years ago.
The first regular-season game in the Taiwanese league is scheduled for Saturday, with the Formosa Taishin Dreamers to play the Taipei Fubon Braves at the Taipei Heping Basketball Arena.
The other teams in the league are the Hsinchu JKO Lioneers, the Taoyuan Pilots, the New Taipei Kings and the Kaohsiung Steelers.
The EASL plans to position itself as the hub of East Asian basketball, bringing the best of the region’s club teams together in an elite competition, supported by long-term agreements with FIBA and Asia’s top leagues, EASL CEO Matt Beyer said.
“Our mission is to be East Asia’s premier basketball league, with a vision to be one of the top three leagues globally by 2025 in terms of fan base and commercial revenue,” Beyer said.
The Hong Kong club is to represent “the greater China region” in the initial version of the tournament, Beyer was cited as saying by the South China Morning Post.
However, the EASL expects to increase its number of teams to 16 by its third season, and teams from mainland China or other areas could be included, the league said in a statement.
The FIBA Asia Board is backing the formation of the EASL, FIBA executive director Asia Hagop Khajirian said.
“This new competition has the potential to enrich the road to the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, the continent’s highest club competition, and will act as good complement to it, providing a great basketball platform for clubs in the East Asia subzone of FIBA and the Philippines,” Khajirian said.
Former NBA stars Metta World Peace, Baron Davis and Shane Battier are on board as EASL brand ambassadors.
Each club is to be allowed two foreign imports plus an extra Asian import in 12-man rosters for each game.
However, there is to be a big emphasis on tapping local talent.
Additional reporting by AP
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