The SBL started accepting player application for the first ever SBL local player draft, which will be held on July 22, the league said. Deadline for the application is on July 13.
Players with high school diploma who are over the age of 18 and never registered with any SBL team are eligible to apply for the draft.
The SBL committee also said that the 2007-08 season will tipoff on December 8. Pre-season warmup games will be played starting November 30.
The league said it will use Taipei County's Sinjhuang Stadium (Capacity 7,000) as the primary venue next season since the current venue TPEC Gym will be demolished and rebuilt. It is also considering moving some regular season games to other cities such as Taichung, Kaohsiung and Yilan.
In addition, the SBL is considering to change the current weekly gameday schedule from Friday-Saturday-Sunday to Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Under the current scheduling, teams often played on three consecutive nights, which I believe was hurting the players and causing more injuries. Hopefully the number of back-to-back games will be reduced next season.
According to ESPN and Videoland, two TV stations that carried SBL broadcast last season, the average game rating of SBL games last season was 0.42, up from 0.33 for the 2005-06 season. It's definitely a good sign for this four years-old league.