Taipei, November 11 (CNA), Taiwan’s latest professional basketball league, officials said Wednesday that LEAGUE, formed earlier this year, hopes to boost domestic tourism while demonstrating the country’s success in containing COVID -19
LEAGUE founder and CEO Blackie Chen (陳建 州), a television host and former professional basketball player, told CNA that he started organizing the league in May of this year because he felt Taiwan needed a « true basketball league »
Taiwan has been left without a full-fledged professional basketball league since the closure of the Chinese Basketball Association, which was in place between 1994 and 1999. Meanwhile, the country has the Super Basketball League (SBL), a semi-professional men’s basketball league of class The first was established in 2003.
“What we really need right now is a professional basketball league even though a lot of people might think SBL is a representative league for Taiwan, it’s not really a professional league,” said Blackie Chen.
One of the main differences is that the letter P, Blackie Chen said, LEAGUE mainly focuses on specific venues and venues with a specific team, which brings in revenue from tourists when they visit to watch matches
He said, « All matches are played consecutively on Saturday and Sunday, » and indicated, « We hope to bring visitors from other regions to watch the matches and that they will spend money on accommodation and food. »
During a speech, Deputy Minister of Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) said that the fact that people are still able to travel in Taiwan and watch live sporting events in person shows the wonderful work Taiwan has done in preventing the spread of the Coronavirus LEAGUE press conference
Chen Tsung-yin said, “This year has proven to be a huge challenge for everyone around the world, yet we were able to create a new sports league in Taiwan and I find it really amazing”
Earlier in March, Taiwan was one of the first countries in the world to allow fans to enter the stadiums to watch baseball, and soon they would be able to do the same with basketball, added Chen Tsung-yen.
“We hope more countries can watch Taiwan, not just basketball games but to see how disease prevention works, because people are able to come to the stadiums to watch the games.”
To date, Taiwan has recorded 584 cases of COVID-19 virus, 492 of which are classified as imported out of the total, 528 patients have recovered, and seven have died in hospital, and 49 have died, according to the Central Epidemiological Command (CECC) statistics as of Wednesday / p>
Ahead of the official December opening match on September 19, the league has already held two rounds of pre-season matches with more than 6,600 spectators gathered at the Taipei Heping Basketball Hall for the latest November 8 match between Changhua-based Formosa Dreamers and Taipei Fubon Braves
According to Blackie Chen, the season, which is currently lining up with four teams, will continue around May. Teams are Hsinchu Lioneers, Taipei Fubon Braves, Taoyuan Pilots and Formosa Dreamers, based in Changhua
Taiwan, Coronavirus, Central News Agency
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