Five cities eye next EASL Final Four

CEBU – EASL CEO Henry Kerins said yesterday the league has received feelers from five cities offering to host the next Final Four with the expectation that more will join the bandwagon after the success of the inaugural home-and-away season. The five cities are not from the Philippines but Kerins said he’s not ruling out a return to the country with glowing feedback from visitors.

“Preparations for next season start the day after we ended the Final Four,” said Kerins. “We anticipate more bids from other cities and will make the announcement of the next host before the start of the 2024-25 season.” Kerins said EASL will stick with eight teams but will expand to 16 for the 2025-26 campaign. Teams from Mainland China are knocking on EASL’s door.

“We’re taking a measured approach to expansion,” said Kerins. “We’ll be intentional and deliberate as we consult with our partner leagues and stakeholders. Obviously, we’ll want all teams to be competitive and bring value to our league. At the same time, we feel the exposure in EASL will raise the level of play in the domestic leagues and national teams.”

When this season started last October, views averaged about 850,000 but by the end of the group stage, total views were up to 48 million. “EASL’s audience – live, broadcast and across all our digital and social media – has grown rapidly, even from the start of our season just five months ago,” said Kerins. “All of us in Asian basketball want the game, teams, leagues and players to grow, to get bigger and to get better. We look to the Americas and Europe and we see how big the game can become with the right investment and structure. The crowds, arenas, teams, talent – these can all get so much bigger and better in Asia, too. We think EASL is one of the leaders of the journey towards that bigger, brighter future for basketball in Asia.”

Kerins said expansion will be within East Asia. “The top basketball talent in Asia is in this region,” he said. Kerins noted that EASL abides by eligibility rules of each domestic league. He said the PBA is unique in that teams enlist only one import in every roster. But in EASL, teams play two imports together. “If TNT and Meralco stayed healthy, they could’ve qualified for the Final Four,” said Kerins. “We’re looking forward to discussions with the PBA on how to address concerns for next season.”