National Elite Basketball League Tournament to be aired live on Channel 5

After years in hiatus, senior male basketball is back. A national elite tournament kicks off on February seventh with the first game to be played in the city. There are eight teams on the roster from all districts.  The five-on-five game, which is the standard competition format, will see the Belize Basketball Federation channel its focus to elite basketball players. The teams will compete in home and away games to win the title of national elite basketball league. Commissioner Isaac Reich told News Five earlier today about the sporting activities that will allow at least one international player per team.

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Isaac Reiss, Commissioner, National Elite Basketball League

Isaac Reiss

“It’s an initiative started by the federation; it is the first of its kind—a truly national league. What we will be having is eight teams; that’s all the districts including one from San Pedro and one from Belmopan. What they will do is compete in home and away games over the next five months or so for the national championship of the elite basketball league. It will be primarily people from the different localities, almost totally Belizean players—each team is allowed one international player. What the federation wanted to do was transition back from youth basketball that they had invested in to bring back up the main men’s program. So to do that, they had to establish some link between what’s happening in the districts, what’s going on in the youth program and a national league. You can expect to see a lot of local talent, you can expect—in your area, wherever you are, Corozal; all the way down to P.G. and San Pedro—you can expect to see people you are familiar with playing basketball in your area.  Channel Five had agreed to do one game per week, a featured game of sorts. In addition to that, promotion wise, what we will be doing is having a website where the statistics from the game, game reports, player profiles will be available so that not just the media but the general public at large can get information about the league, about the season, about the players and what exactly is going on just to keep the public engaged.”

Game nights will vary depending on locations and schedules. The first game is set for next Friday, February seventh at the Bird’s Isle in Belize City where San Pedro and Belize City teams will battle it out on the court. That game and the rest of the season will be aired live on this station. For more information and updates, check out the website at: www.nebl.sportingpulse.com