B.LEAGUE 2017-2018 (Levanga Hokkaido home game)
The B.League is a professional men's basketball league that began in Japan in September 2016. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that was operated by the FIBA-affiliated Japan Basketball Association and the independently operated BJ league. The merger had been mandated by FIBA as a condition to Japan having its membership resumed following suspension in November 2014.
History
The Japan Basketball Association was formed in 1930 and has operated Japan's top basketball leagues under various names since 1967. Throughout the history of the association, teams have been affiliated with large corporations and players have been employed by their respective owner company rather than competing as professional basketball players. In the early 1990s soccer in Japan moved away from a similar corporate structure and launched the J.League in 1993. The JBA commenced investigating the professionalization of basketball in the same year, and in 1997 lifted the ban on professional players. Despite this, the structure of the Japan Super League remained amateur in nature, with most teams remaining under the control of a corporate sponsor/owner.
In 2005 a rival bj league was launched in competition with the Super League, based on an American franchise system of professional teams. In response, the JBA re-launched the Super League as the Japan Basketball League in 2007, but there was still a mixture of professional and corporate teams in the competition. The JBL was again rebranded as the National Basketball League in 2013. Since the establishment of the bj league in 2005, both competitions rapidly expanded the number of teams, with 45 teams participating between the two competitions in 2015.
FIBA, the international governing body for basketball, grew concerned with the division and disorganization of the sport within the country. After the JBA failed to comply with deadlines to commence reorganizing the domestic leagues, FIBA suspended Japan from international competitions in November 2014. A task force to investigate the reformation of the domestic leagues was formed and Saburō Kawabuchi was appointed co-chairman. In May 2015, upon FIBA's recommendation, Kawabuchi was appointed as president of the JBA. The merger of the two competing leagues into the B.League was announced in June 2015 and the international suspension was lifted by FIBA in August. Telecommunications company Softbank were named as the league's top sponsor for the inaugural season in March 2016.
The 2016–17 season commenced with an inaugural match between four-time JBL/NBL champions Alvark Tokyo, who finished on top of the NBL ladder in 2015–16, and four-time bj-league champions Ryukyu Golden Kings, who won the 2015–16 bj-league championship, at Yoyogi National Gymnasium on 22 September 2016. A full round of games involving all other teams commenced on September 24.
The league consists of three divisions; the first two divisions have 18 teams each with a system of promotion and relegation between the first and second division. Each of the first two divisions is further divided into three conferences. The third division has nine teams made up of de facto semi-professional teams.
First Division
In the first division, each team plays a 60-game schedule that consists of 36 games against teams within their own conference (8 games against three teams and 6 games against the remaining two teams) and 24 games against teams in the other conferences (2 games against each team). The top two teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs, along with the two teams that finish with the best record but do not finish in the top two of their conference. The quarter-final and semi-final rounds of the playoffs will consist of two games played at the home court of the team that finished with the higher winning percentage during the season. If the two teams win one game each, a ten-minute deciding match will be played after the second game. The championship final will be a single match played at a neutral venue.
Second Division
In the second division, the regular season will take the same 60-game schedule as the first division, with 36 intra-conference and 24 inter-conference games. The winner of each conference plus the team with the best winning percentage from the remaining 15 teams will qualify for the playoffs. The semi-finals will take the same two-game format (with 10-minute tie-breaker) as the first division and be played at the home venue of the higher-ranked team. The grand final and playoff for third place will be a single match played at a neutral venue.
Promotion and relegation
The four first division teams with the worst regular-season records will contest a tournament to avoid relegation to the second division. The first round will be a two-game series played at the home venue of the better ranked team, with a 10-minute tie breaker match if required. The two losing teams from this first round will be automatically relegated to the second division and replaced by the winner and runner-up of the second division playoffs. The two first-division teams that win the first round of relegation matches will meet in a single match at a neutral venue, with the winner remaining in the first division. The loser of the final match will contest a relegation match at a neutral venue against the second division's third placed team. However, this basic system is subject to change in circumstances where one of the second division teams that qualifies for promotion to the first division does not hold a full first division license with the league.
Current clubs
In the 2014–15 season, there were 12 teams in the NBL, 10 teams in the National Basketball Development League (NBDL, the NBL's second division league) and 24 teams in the bj-league. All 46 teams sought entrance to the B.League's inaugural 2016–17 season, along with the Wakayama Trians, who withdrew from the NBL in January 2015 due to financial difficulty. Ultimately, all clubs were accepted into the league except for the Trians and the Hiroshima Lightning, who were in their first season as a bj-league expansion club.The allocation of the 45 teams into three divisions was announced in two phases in July and August 2015. In April 2016 the league announced rules regarding official team names, shortened names and abbreviations to be used by the clubs. A list of names to be used by each club in the 2016–17 season was also published.
Levanga Hokkaido is a Japanese professional basketball team based in the city of Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido. The club was founded in 2006 as Rera Kamuy Hokkaido, this name comes from the language of the Ainu, an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaido, and means "god of the winds". The franchise changed its name twice in 2011; the first when the club's parent company was kicked out of the league due to financial woes in the season. The team ended the season with a league-backed management group and a new moniker, calling itself Basketball Club Hokkaido. And finally, took its current name Levanga Hokkaido, in August 2011.
The team debuted in the Japan Basketball League in the 2007-2008 season and is one of only three teams in the league not owned by a major Japanese manufacturing company.
Levanga plays its home games mainly at the Hokkai Kitayell, but, as the team represents the entire Hokkaido Prefecture, also plays some home-games at the Asahikawa City General Gymnasium, Otaru City Gymnasium, Hakodate Arena, Obihiro City General Gymnasium & Kushiro Shitsugen no Kaze Arena.
The club is 200 million yen in debt as of March 2017, and this might cause problems in the future.
Niigata Albirex BB, formally Niigata Albirex Basketball, is a Japanese basketball club. It is based in Nagaoka, Niigata.
The club was founded in 1954 as the company team of Daiwa Securities, a Tokyo-based securities brokerage. In 1991, it joined the Japan Basketball League. In 2000, the company club was dissolved after NSG purchased it, and the club was moved before the 2000–2001 season to Niigata and renamed Albirex.
In 2004, it joined the bj league along with five other clubs.
Osaka Evessa is a professional basketball team playing in the B.League, the top-tier professional basketball league of Japan. The team is operated by the Human Group Sports Entertainment Company. The team is named after Ebisu. In July 2015 it was announced that the team will compete in the first division of the new Japan Professional Basketball League, which will commence from October 2016.
The team was formed in 2004 with the expansion of the bj league. They have been the most successful team in the league, having won three league championships in the league's first three seasons.
During the 2007-08 season, the team played their home games in seven separate arenas throughout the Osaka Prefecture and Hyogo Prefecture. This was also the first season that the team's game were broadcast live on television (for two games). The total attendance for their home games was 66,069, and the average attendance 3,003. The team finished in first place during the regular season and won the championship for the third consecutive season.
The 2008-09 season was the first season that the team did not use the Namihaya Dome for any of their home games.
Lebanga Hokkaido (Levanga Hokkaido) is a professional basketball team belonging to B.LEAGUE with Hokkaido Sapporo City as the home town. The base is the North Sea in Toyohira Ward.
In this section, we will also describe the Hokkaido basketball club of the predecessor team and Lelacaumu Hokkaido, which was founded in the 2007-08 season and was active part way through the 2010-11 season.
Lebanga Hokkaido is a professional basketball team in which all players have a professional contract (there is a time when they have some amateur contract players after the B league transition). The team is managed by the Hokkaido basketball club Co., Ltd.
The upside-down word of "Ganbare". The oath that keeps being a team that can support "cheer" from the citizens is included.
The home game venue is mainly Hokkaido General Physical Education Center (North Sea Eh), Kaidenki Tsukizuka Dome.
Other examples of achievements are Makomanai Sekisui Heim Iris Arena, Sapporo Distribution General Hall (Access Sapporo), Asahikawa City General Gymnasium, Todai Nodo Comprehensive Sports Gymnasium General Sports Center, Chitose City Sports Center, Eniwa City General Gymnasium, Hakodate Citizen Gymnasium, Wind breeze arena Kushiro, Tomakomai City general gymnasium, Ashibetsu city general gymnasium, Kitahiroshima City general gymnasium, Day City general gymnasium etc. The 2012-13 season was held for the first time outdoors in Sendai City's Xebio Arena Sendai in 1 venue (2 games).
Partnering with Spirits of Northland Co., Ltd.
It is a setting called Birth of JR Hakodate Main Line Washinosu station in Yakumo-cho, Nikaime-gun, Hokkaido. Because Eaganosu station was abolished following the revision of the schedule on March 26, 2016, I have sometimes returned home.
San Rockers Shibuya (Sun Rockers Shibuya) is a basketball team belonging to B. LEAGUE. The headquarters are in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. The abbreviation for "SR Shibuya" is also used. Hitachi male basketball club. The management company is Hitachi San Rockers Co., Ltd.
Club color inherits the yellow of the Hitachi period. Club mascot is Polar bear sandy, official DJ is Patrick Yu. The national title is 20 times in total in the Hitachi era (1 in all Japan, 13 in the national government, 6 in the all-Japan business group).
Kyoto Hannalies (Kyoto Hannarize, English: KYOTO HANNARYZ) is a professional basketball team belonging to B. LEAGUE based in Kyoto Prefecture. Sports communication KYOTO Co., Ltd. is the operating company. As the professional sports team in Kyoto Prefecture, it is the second team after Kyoto Sanga F.C.
Team name · "Hannahries" (HANNARYZ) is a coined word from "Hannari" which is a Kyo word, and was adopted from nearly 500 candidates thought by staff of sports communication KYOTO. "Hangling" means that it is elegant, bright and gorgeous, and he wants to help the succession of Kyoto culture. The primary logo that is currently used is the second generation. The first generation was decided by public offering.
Chiba Jets Funabashi(Japanese: 千葉ジェッツふなばし ) is a Japanese professional basketball team located in Funabashi, Chiba. The team joined the JBL Super League in 2005 and currently competes in the B.League.