FOLLOWING in the footsteps of the highly successful national soccer league, China's basketball authorities will run their first nationwide club championship for men's teams starting in February.
IMG, the company which marketed the Marlboro soccer league on the mainland, is also behind this venture, being responsible for marketing and television rights sales.
The eight-team league will begin in February 1995 and run until April.
Plans are for the second season to run from October 1995 to April 1996 with an expanded roster of 12 teams.
In February the dozen starting sides will be from Shenyang, Changchun, Tianjin, Beijing, Guangzhou, Jinan, Nanjing and Shanghai.
'As 1995 marks the 100th anniversary of the introduction of basketball into China, it is very appropriate that the National Men's Basketball League will be inaugurated next year,' said Yang Boyang, secretary general of the Chinese Basketball Association.
The first season of the Chinese national soccer league, which ended a few weeks ago, was a great success. The league attracted a big-name sponsor in Marlboro and matches were watched by big crowds and huge television audiences.