Two RP clubs eyed for Asean Basketball League

JAKARTA – Two slots are being reserved for the Philippines in the soon-to-be-launched Asean Basketball League (ABL) but SEABA president Erick Thohir said the other day he expects more Filipino players suiting up for other teams under the rule allowing the recruitment of two Southeast Asian imports.

Thohir, a media mogul representing Indonesia, said the ABL’s prime mover Tony Fernandes of Malaysia expects to open the league with at least eight clubs by September.

Thohir said no franchise has been pegged at the moment.

“The target is to get at least eight teams to play,” said Thohir. “Two will come from the Philippines and two from Indonesia with one each from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. We’ll also invite one team from Brunei and Vietnam or both. The ABL is still finalizing budgets and marketing plans to determine how much it will cost to sustain the league.”

Thohir said there must be a clear distinction between teams coming from the same country.

“If Indonesia has two teams, each must represent a different city or province, as in Bandung or Jakarta,” he continued. “Ideally, each club must be attached to a home stadium with a seating capacity of at least 4,000. If the Philippines has two teams, one could represent Manila and the other, Cebu. But it will not be possible for two Manila teams to represent the Philippines.”

Thohir said the ABL has set a deadline of the end of March for teams to express interest to join. Another deadline is May for the ABL to sign a TV contract, possibly with ESPN.

“It’s crucial for us to have a TV contract,” said Thohir who owns at least two TV stations in Indonesia. “Why ESPN? It’s because the channel covers 10 countries in the Southeast Asian region. We’re hoping aside from soccer and badminton which are popular in our region, the next staple for ESPN will be the ABL. I think viewers from Southeast Asia will appreciate basketball more than cricket and rugby which are being shown on ESPN.”

Thohir said SEABA will be involved in the league as an endorsing entity.

“We must keep in mind two things – one, that each team in the ABL will be endorsed by its country’s basketball association which is a SEABA member and two, that each team will be allowed to draft two non-Asian and two Southeast Asian imports,” he said. “SEABA will be involved in regulation and looking at the system of the league. To avoid any misunderstanding, the ABL will require each team to be endorsed by its SEABA member country association.”

Both FIBA-Asia secretary-general Dato Yeoh Choo Hock and Thohir are supporting the ABL.

 “We want competitive balance in the ABL so it will be attractive to fans,” said Thohir. “We realize the Philippines, because of the popularity of basketball, has a big edge but we think the ABL has a format to assure balance. Some teams were thinking of drafting as many as six foreign players but that would defeat the purpose of creating local heroes. It will be harder to sell tickets if we don’t develop Southeast Asian heroes.”

Thohir said he anticipates Filipino pros playing for different teams as Southeast Asian imports. “Malaysia, for instance, could bring in a Filipino and an Indonesian to play with two non-Asian imports or Indonesia might sign up a Filipino and a Singaporean,” he went on. “Our idea is for the ABL to become like the English Premier League in football. This is strictly a Southeast Asian league. There will be no participation from China, Japan or Korea.”

Thohir said two Filipinos – Boysie Zamar of Medan and Bong Ramos of Surabaya – are now coaching in the 10-team Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) which runs from January to May. The IBL used to employ Filipino imports but because of the financial crunch, only local players are now in rosters. At the end of each year, the IBL organizes a tournament where rookies and free agents are invited to play on a trial basis before the next season starts.

SBP executive director Noli Eala said the ABL offers an opportunity for the Philippines to take a lead role in the league and for more Filipinos to get jobs.