BPBL Introduces Commissioner of New Basketball League

There’s a new basketball league coming to town. The Belize Premier Basketball League will start its season in four weeks. The seven teams in the inaugural season will be introduced on opening night at the Belize City Civic Center. Among them are four familiar organizations and three new ones. The BPBL has named Claudio Leal as its league commissioner. We spoke with Leal earlier today.

 

Claudio Leal, Commissioner, Belize Premier Basketball League

“Very significant is that within this league there are three championship cups. We are doing it just like the NBA format. We are going to have what we call one cup in the north, the north and the south, the Maya Cup. Then we have a cup in the east and west, we call that the toucan cup. These two will play and the winners of that cup will get five thousand each and then those two will play for the finals of the championship cup or what we call the Jaguar Cup. The winner will walk away with fifteen thousand dollars, with twenty gold rings and all the niceties. So it is twelve players, each team comprised of twelve players, on foreign player from any part of the world, one Belizean American and ten players. Out of those ten players, one has to be under twenty-one. That is the new format that we have introduced and that is what we are going with. The commissioner’s office also have two deputy commissioners, the first deputy and second deputy, Mr. Francis Arzu and Mr. Amir Garcia, Arzu first and Garcia second. Those two young men brings a lot to the table. I am very comfortable with the by-laws and the regulations we have in place. What makes this league different is the structure,, not only of the management, the executive but all the other committees that have pledged their commitment to serve as a part of this league. So success, the probability of success for this league is huge. It is paramount to understand that this league is not like any other league. This league will raise the level of basketball in Belize.”