The Taichung Suns will not play in the T1 League’s 2023-2024 season after repeatedly failing to meet criteria regarding team finances, the professional basketball league said in a statement on Friday.
The T1 League said that following the decision on the Suns, made at the league’s 22nd executive council meeting, it would postpone a planned news conference on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming season.
A source familiar with the league’s operations told reporters that the Suns had been asked at two previous meetings of the T1 League’s executive council to provide evidence proving the franchise had the requisite finances.
Photo: CNA
The announcement of the Suns’ expulsion, which reduces the number of teams in the T1 League to five, came as a surprise given that the Taichung ballclub had been set to hold cheerleading try-outs today and had shared posts on social media showing players preparing in Japan for the upcoming season.
However, the Suns are rumored to have failed to pay players’ salaries on time on multiple occasions over the past two seasons.
Runners-up in the T1 League’s inaugural season, the Suns finished the 2022-2023 regular season 8-22 to sit fifth, but it upset the odds to dispatch the Taiwan Beer HeroBears in the playoffs before getting swept by the New Taipei CTBC DEA.
Photo provided by the Taichung Suns
In response to the league’s decision, the Suns said that it was among the first three teams that the league in early July approved for the 2023-2024 season, but the league asked it to meet a stricter financial criterion afterward.
On the afternoon of Sept. 8, the league asked the franchise to provide a trust worth NT$50 million (US$1.57 million) by 6pm on Thursday, a requirement too abrupt for it to meet, and that led to the league banning it from the upcoming season, the Suns said.
Referring to the expulsion as “brutal” and “unreasonable,” the Suns asked the league to explain why it applied different standards for the team.
The club would take legal action to protect the franchise’s rights, it said.
The T1 League had not commented further as of press time last night.
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