On the third day after returning to Hong Kong, Li Jianhui attended the ABA and PFLA joint meeting. This was also the first formal meeting since the establishment of the two major leagues.
Currently, ABA is located in Xiangjiang (2), Lisboa (1), Taipei (1), Taichung (1), Kaohsiung (1), Tainan (1), Tokyo (2), Osaka (1), Nagoya (1), and Seoul.
(2), Busan (1), Incheon (1), Daegu (1), Kuala Lumpur (1), Penang (1), Johor Bahru (1), Ipoh (1), Bangkok (1), Chiang Mai (1)
), Chiang Rai (1), Singapore (2), Jakarta (1), Bandung (1), Manila (1), Cebu (1), Davao (1), a total of 26 cities with a total of 30 teams
.
PFLA is a replica of the ABA. It also has 30 teams in these 26 cities, but the owners are different.
In the conference room 201 of Xinhui Hotel, PFLA Chairman Huo Zhengting and ABA Chairman Chen Zhiyong delivered speeches one after another.
As an advocate of the two major leagues and the honorary chairman of the two major leagues, Li Jianhui also made a speech.
"Gentlemen and ladies, thank you very much for your support of the Asian Basketball League and the Asian Football League.
Since the Industrial Revolution, not only has the economic center shifted from the East to the West, but the cultural center has also shifted from the East to the West.
Sports is also a kind of culture, and it is also a very exportable culture. When we mention the basketball league, we first think of the NBA in the United States. When we mention the football league, we think of Serie A, Bundesliga, and English League One.
These leagues also attract elites from around the world, and fans from all over the world choose these leagues first to watch games.
Today we established the Asian Basketball League and the Asian Football League, and their main purpose is to break this situation and let the world know that top sports leagues are not only found in Europe and the United States, but also in Asia.
In order to open up the two major leagues, Hongyu Clothing became the sponsor of ABA and PFLA for HK$500 million for three years respectively.
I also hope that everyone can actively contact local TV stations and reach strategic cooperation with major TV stations to expand the influence of our two major leagues.
…”
At the meeting, the general managers of the major clubs also discussed the specific start time and competition format with the management of the two major leagues.
The ABA will hold the first ABA draft on July 2. Because all the major clubs are new, there will be three rounds in this draft. And because the major clubs are not ranked, thirty clubs will have the same probability.
Draft positions are determined by drawing lots.
At the same time, the ABA is also divided into the North District and the South District. The North District consists of 5 teams from South Korea, 4 teams from Japan, 4 teams from Baodao, 1 team from Lisboa, and the Xiangjiang Xinjian Basketball Club returns to the North District.
, the charter boat king's Kowloon Basketball Club was moved to the Southern District.
The ABA did not follow the example of the NBA in establishing small divisions. It only had the North and South divisions. The competition format was that the North and South division teams played two games, one home and away game each, and the other 14 teams in the North division played four games each.
There are two home and away games each, and each team has a total of 86 regular season games.
The top eight teams in each district advance to the playoffs, and the competition format, whether it is the district quarter-finals, semifinals, finals, or finals, is a best-of-seven game system.
Since the Xinjian Basketball Stadium is still under construction, the Xinjian team will share the Xinyi Stadium with the Kowloon team in the first season.
As a new gymnasium that was put into use last year, the conditions are pretty good in all aspects. Although there are only 3,500 spectator seats, it is barely enough for the first season.
After all, whether it is the Xinjian Basketball Stadium in Sham Shui Po invested by the Xinjian Group with a seating capacity of 20,000, or the Kowloon Sports Center built by Wharf in East Kowloon with a seating capacity of 15,000, they will be completed in September next year.
As an advocate of the event, and because the league is headquartered in Hong Kong, the ABA draft is also fixed in Xiangjiang every year. This year and next it will be at Xinyi Hall, and starting from the year after next, it will be fixed at Xinjian Basketball Hall.
Each team does not limit the number of players from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Lisboa, Hong Kong, and ASEAN.
Each team outside these regions is temporarily limited to more than two players. The fundamental purpose of this league is to improve the level of basketball competition in each region, not to spend money on foreign players.
In the first few years of the league, players in their respective regions must be protected to a certain extent. As the competitive level gradually improves, restrictions will be gradually lifted.
At the same time, the league has also set a player salary cap, which is calculated in Hong Kong dollars. The current salary cap is 20 million Hong Kong dollars. Those who exceed the salary cap will pay a 50% luxury tax to the league based on the excess.
For the sustainable development of the league and to subsidize weak teams, television broadcast fees will be uniformly collected and distributed by the league. The better the performance, the higher the proportion of points.
Many of the opinions here were put forward by Li Jianhui with reference to some practices of the previous NBA, which can also make the league more competitive.
If there are no restrictions and a few big consortiums that are not short of money just throw money at these teams to perform, then what is there to see?
Moreover, in the future development, we should try our best to avoid the gathering of stars, and promote more promotion of the spirit of one person, one city, so that such games can be exciting.
Because Li Jianhui was a basketball fan in his previous life, but not a football fan, Huo Zhengting and others were fully responsible for the PFLA, and he did not interfere too much.
The Tesco Sports Center of the Tesco Group is also under rapid construction in Saigon. In the first season, it will share the Xiangjiang Stadium with the Zhenhua Football Team and currently has 25,000 spectator seats.
There are also many depressed people in this venue today, especially the visitors from Xingzhou.
They are very upset in their hearts. If they had proposed the establishment of such a league within ASEAN one or two years in advance, then the headquarters would be in Sin Chew instead of permanently settling in Xiangjiang as it is now.
They once wanted to suppress this competitor, but they never thought that in just a few years, Xiangjiang Capital would not only not be weakened, but would far surpass them.
And the transformation speed is quite fast. If the main economy of Xiangjiang in the 1970s was real estate, finance, shipping and OEM production, then at the beginning of the 1980s, the economic pillars of Xiangjiang have begun to change.
Although finance and real estate still dominate, Xiangjiang's electronic semiconductor industry, retail industry, headquarters economic industry, and film and television media industry have surpassed the two pillar industries of shipping and OEM production.
Xiangjiang is building a high-tech research and development highland, a global financial center, a world consumer tourism city, an Asian aviation hub, a global trade distribution center, an Asian headquarters center for multinational enterprises, and an Asian film and television media center.
The impact of the hollowing out of Xiangjiang industry on Xiangjiang will be minimized, and because the headquarters here in Xiangjiang will increase research and development, production will be done in the low-cost mainland, making Xiangjiang products more competitive.
Now there is no possibility for Sin Chew to surpass Xiangjiang economically. The only thing that comforts them is that there is still a fatal crisis in Xiangjiang, which is also Sin Chew's best chance to make a comeback.
Not to mention becoming the center of Asia, at least it can take back the center of ASEAN and become the leader of ASEAN.
Li Jianhui, who was sitting on the rostrum, naturally did not know the thoughts of the heads of the major families such as Xingzhou Qiu, Huang, and Guo.
After the meeting, Li Jianhui specially invited everyone present to attend a welcome dinner he specially organized for everyone.