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Mike Chan

Two months after predicting basketball’s East Asia Super League could break even during the 2026-27 season, the chief of the competition has pushed the timeline forward by a season.
Henry Kerins, EASL’s co-founder and CEO, also said officials were taking their time over discussions with the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) but that a planned expansion from eight to 16 teams would happen in the 2025-26 season, regardless of the participation of any Chinese teams.
“I think we’ll double our [broadcast] revenues, and we’ve brought down a huge amount of our operating costs, by about 27.5 per cent,” Kerins said of the coming season. “I think we’re going to break even at the end of next season.”
EASL would soon announce the host venue and sponsors of its playoffs, the Final Four, with the location set to be a “well-known city in our ecosystem”, he said.

There are two teams each from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the Philippines for the second season, while the competition continues to engage with the CBA to get Chinese teams on board eventually. The league’s deal with global governing body Fiba allows time to do so.
“The CBA is a huge league with a lot of logistics and scheduling related to it, so we’re taking our time with that,” Kerins said. “Our prime focus is really on our existing markets.
“We have incredible markets now, so CBA is not imperative, but of course we want to have them. I want to see the best Chinese teams playing the best Japanese and Korean teams. I think every fan does.
“It’s a 10-plus-five-year agreement, so we have a 15-year view on where we want to be and we don’t have time issues. We have exclusivity in Mongolia and China from Fiba.”
Wide interest would allow expansion to 16 teams to happen by the 2025-26 season even if the Chinese had yet to commit by then, he said.
“Everyone we’ve partnered with wants this to grow,” Kerins said. “It benefits their leagues, clubs and national teams, it benefits that entire ecosystem. We had representatives from a lot of leagues at the Final Four [in March] asking to join us.
“There are other markets I want to join us, so the problem is not the options but how we find competitive basketball that’s really the best of the best.”
Kerins did not divulge specific leagues but suggested Southeast Asia was a priority.

“It is an extremely young and exciting market, and those leagues are investing,” he said. “They’re getting stronger, and you can see that at the national team level.”
Set to tip off on October 2, the next EASL season has two confirmed teams, in Busan KCC Egis and Suwon KT Sonicboom from the Korean Basketball League. They will be joined by the champions and runners-up of the Taiwanese P. League+, Japan’s B League and the Philippine Basketball Association season.


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East Asia Super League

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B League side Chiba Jets were crowned champions in March. Photo: EASL

Chiba Jets celebrate after beating Seoul SK Knights in the Final Four championship game in March. Photo: Handout

Henry Kerins, co-founder and CEO of EASL. Photo: EASL

East Asia Super League still eyeing spot among basketball elite, says chief, who believes China clubs hold key to growth

Park Ji-hoon of Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters in action against New Taipei Kings in the third-place play-off. Photo: Handout

EASL co-founder and CEO Henry Kerins expects expect to break even in season 2026-27. Photo: EASL

Chiba Jets were crowned champions after beating Seoul SK Knights in the Philippines. Photo: EASL

East Asia Super League: entire Bay Area Dragons team sacked during online meeting, players told ‘contracts terminated’

The Bay Area Dragons were the East Asia Super League’s franchise team. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong player Duncan Reid was one of several players told they were having their contracts terminated. Photo: Handout

Basketball chief throws weight behind East Asia Super League, says no real prospect of rival competition going ahead

Anyang KGC won the East Asia Super League’s Champions Week tournament in March. Photo: Handout

International Basketball Federation’s (Fiba) executive director for Asia Hagop Khajirian Photo: Handout

 East Asia Super League CEO Matt Beyer addresses the media before a competition in Macau in 2019. Photo: Handout

Glen Yang is one of two Hongkongers to have been signed to extensions ahead of the new season. Photo: Handout

Yao Ming confirms Chinese Basketball Association officially backs new regional competition to rival East Asia Super League

Yao Ming revealed the Chinese association’s plan to support the proposed new league. Photo: Xinhua

Zhou Peng of China’s Guangdong Southern Tigers takes on Guangzhou Loong Lions. Photo: Xinhua

Sport

Basketball

China

Demand from other leagues in the region shows appetite for EASL ahead of 2024-25 season, according to co-founder and CEO Henry Kerins
’I want to see the best Chinese teams playing the best Japanese and Korean teams. I think every fan does,’ he says


Demand from other leagues in the region shows appetite for EASL ahead of 2024-25 season, co-founder and CEO Henry Kerins says.


Fiba (International Basketball Federation)