Thursday, April 27, 2000

CBA Hopes to Re-start in November

Six CBA teams have all agreed to play in the new season, which may start in November if everything goes well, newly-elected CBA president Chen Cheng-chun announced in an official league press conference on April 24.

Chen said that all six teams, including Dacin Tigers, which claimed it will not consider re-joining the CBA in the next three years, had signed the "Letter-of-intent" to play in the new season.

CBA also released the preliminary schedule of the new season. Training camps will open in September, while the exhibition games are scheduled in October. However no specific date is set. 2000-2001 season schedule will be officially released in July.

Chen, who is also the owner of the Hong-fu Rams, will held the double-posts as the league's president and general manager at early stages. No expansion team will be added in the new season, Chen said.

Chen promised to lay down a number of "systems", including player trades and local/import draft, that never was carried out in the previous five years of the league.

Mars(former BCC Mars) is looking for a new ownership, after the Broadcasting Corporation of China dropped the sponsorship for the team. New owner is believed to be set before July. At this moment, Mars is still the only team without an owner.

CBA suspended all action midway thru its fifth season in March, 1999. After the suspension, the CBA organized several mini-size tournaments and formed a re-structuring committee, hoping to bring back the league. Six teams of the CBA are Hong-kuo Elephants, Yulon Dinos, Luckipar Panthers, Hong-fu Rams, Dacin Tigers and Mars.