Japanese Professional Basketball League (bj-league)

SENDAI 89ers NIIGATA ALBIREX BB TOYAMA GROUSES SAITAMA BRONCOS TOKYO APACHE OSAKA EVESSA TAKAMATSU FIVE ARROWS RIZING FUKUOKA OITA HEATDEVILS RYUKYU GOLDENKINGS

Photo:(C)AFLO SPORT/bj-league

The first Japanese Professional Basketball League (bj-league) was inaugurated in November, 2005 with 6 teams (Sendai 89ERS, Niigata Albirex BB, Saitama Broncos, Tokyo Apache, Osaka Evessa, and Oita Heat Devils) participated in the 120 games in total during the regular season. At the end, Osaka became the first champion of the season.
For the Second season, The Toyama Grouses and the Takamatsu Five Arrows joined the league. In this season, Osaka won the finals for the second straight year.
For the third season, "bj-league" welcomed to more expansion team, Rizing Fukuoka and Ryukyu Golden Kings. "bj-league" will stage exciting games over the season!

Read English news about the bj-league in The Japan Times. Visit this link for up-to-date coverage;

League Outline  2007-2008

Teams

10 teams divided into 2 conferences. Eastern Conf. includes Sendai, Niigata, Toyama, Saitama, and Tokyo. Western Conf. includes Osaka, Takamatsu, Fukuoka, Oita, and Okinawa.

Players

Each team can contract with up to 15 players and there is no limit on the number of foreign players.

Regular Season

During the regular season, each team plays 44 games in total (22games home/away). bj-league regular season starts on October 30, 2007 and ends in the last weekend of April, 2008.

The season concludes with a 4-team tournament that determines the champion of the season.

All Star Game

All Star Game is scheduled for December 29th 2007. 10 players of the each conf. will be selected to play in the bj-league all star game.

Season Structure

[ bj-league Open Tryouts ]

bj-league provides a great opportunity to become a professional basketball player. The tryout is proceeded step by step.

[ bj-league Draft Conference ]

Player Draft is held in early summer.

Japan Professional Basketball League Profile

Head office

4-10-1 shiba minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0014
Phone: +81-3-3798-8881
Fax: +81-3-3798-8887
E-mail: bjinquiry@bj-league.com

Established

March 24th, 2005

Representative

Ikuo Kimura, Chairman & CEO
Toshimitsu Kawachi, Commissioner
Hidemitsu Nakano, President & COO
Hiromu Ikeda, League Advisor


Copyright (C) 2004 BASKETBALL JAPAN LEAGUE