The much-anticipated launch of the African basketball league (ABL) took place at the Lagos Motorboat Club on 17th December, 2015. The glamorous event was attended by many captains of industry.
In his welcome address, Ugo Udezue, CEO of the African Sports Entertainment, emphasised that ABL was set up primarily for the purpose of improving socio-economic development on the African continent via Tourism and Sports.
“The goal of the ABL” Udezue said, “is to create jobs and build an ecosystem that benefits the African environment.”
“We are the investors in ABL but the credit does not belong to us, we are a private entity but profits are not our motivation. If it was just about profit, I won’t be standing here this moment. If it were profit we don’t have to pay players the way we are going to because the market value doesn’t dictate we do. We have worked hard to put together this opportunity but the credit goes to the cities that we will represent like Lagos State, like Abidjan, like Libreville, like Dakar. Our purpose is larger than ourselves; our purpose is not for today but to lay the groundwork in basketball sports for our future generations,” he explained.
Obinna Ekezie, CEO of Wakanow, noted that tournament offers significant investment opportunities and helps make the players better.
“It’s a tremendous platform; it is a league that will be run professionally and will attract investment and the quality of the league would be better than what they have seen before in terms of compensation. It’s not just a league for Nigerian local players but a league that will attract foreign players that will help develop the Nigerian players. There are six franchises playing home and away games and there will be an All Star weekend playoff between the qualifying teams,” Ekezie said.
The former professional basketball player further said the ABL would help improve the fan base and Wakanow would be providing travel services for the fans.
“Obviously, as the league matures and the franchises in Senegal, Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire and Gabon start to build up huge fan base, we will be providing travel services for the fans to help them move around with their teams when they play in different countries. It’s an opportunity to help develop the league and develop the sport,” Ekezie said.
The ABL will officially get underway in the tail end of January, 2016. It is a private league that will adopt a round-robin format and the African teams that will participate in the inaugural edition of the league are Lagos Islanders, Stallions, Lagos City Chiefs and Lagos Warriors Basket Club (all Nigerian clubs), Dakar Rapids (Senegal) Abidjan Ramblers (Cote D’Ivoire) and Izobe Basketball Club from Libreville, Gabon.
Top sponsors of the tournament are: Union Bank, Wakanow, Cornerstone Insurance, and Radisson Blu.
ABL is the brainchild of Africa Sports Entertainment Limited in collaboration with Wakanow Sports.
Anthony Nlebem
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