Pro basketball. It's probably not the first sport that comes to mind when thinking about Taiwan. Baseball, yes, but not basketball. Be surprised. Hoops is big on the island, and the second season of the professional Chinese Basketball Alliance began in November. Play continues through June.
Visitors to Taiwan have plenty of chances to take in games. The 150 regular-season games are held in 13 cities from Keelung in the north to Pingtung in the south, and from Ilan on the east to Taichung on the west. The other cities where you can catch games are Taipei, Panchiao, Touliu, Tsoying, Changhua, Chiayi, Miaoli, Hsinchu, and Fengshan.
The CBA has six teams, with the Hung Fu Rams and the Chungshing Tigers added for the new season. Last year, the Yulon Dinos finished in first place, followed by the Hung Kuo Elephants, Tera Mars, and Luckipar. As with the teams in Taiwan's professional baseball league, the CBA teams are corporate-owned and owe no allegiance to any one city. As a result, there are no "home" games and each team has fans across the island. While the CBA uses U.S. National Basketball Association rules with a 24-second clock and no zone defenses, the game isn't exactly like the one fans in North America are used to seeing. The corporate set doesn't pack the front rows and snap up season tickets.
Teen Dreams
Many fans of the growing sport of basketball in Taiwan are school-age girls, but those in the know expect the game to gradually attract a more sophisticated audience as the teams and the game itself matures.
Instead, the CBA is kids' stuff, with thousands of students filling the stands looking for their basketball idols. The games have more of a feel of a high school game, or even a rock concert, with girls sneaking up to the court to snap pictures of the players. It's the star quality, not necessarily the athletic performance, which is currently the biggest draw. "It's the idol market for the students which is our biggest attraction," says Jordan Liang, director of development for the CBA. "That's why most of our promotional activities are geared toward the schools."
In fact, up to 90% of fan club members are school-age girls. While these fans may not be particularly knowledgeable about the game, they certainly make up for it in their undying devotion to the players, win or lose. "The fans are very supportive," says Jerry Lew, a guard on the Luckipar team. "After games they give you lots of presents. Even though they may not be worth a lot, it shows how much they care."
The league expects the game to gradually attract an older, more professional audience as the teams set roots and develop. But even when a different crowd starts to take over, don't expect the atmosphere inside the stadiums to change much. "Our games reflect the East Asian style," says Liang. "There is lots of yelling, noise, and excitement, like what you see in Japanese baseball. It's not really a family-oriented environment as in the United States with its wide-open, spacious stadiums. Our style is smaller venues, so the fans can be on top of the games."
Actually, the league really has no choice but to go small. Most arenas the CBA uses seat only about 4,000 fans. Taipei is stuck with the aging 2,700-seat Municipal Gymnasium. No skyboxes for the famous and wealthy to entertain friends and clients away from the cheering masses. Partly due to the small size of the Taipei facility, the league decided to experiment last season by scheduling games in cities not traditionally associated with high-level entertainment events. To their surprise, the games drew large crowds in such places as Ilan, Changhua, and Touliu. The response showed league officials that residents across the island have developed a taste--and income--for professional sports.
As a result, the league added games in more cities and reduced the number of contests in Taipei to only 14. Still, residents in the capital city can catch other games in nearby Keelung and Panchiao. Also, they can stay at home and watch all 150 games on TV. While the league drew more than 800,000 fans last year, it was clear that changes had to be made. "There were only four teams last year and it got monotonous playing the same teams over and over," said Lew. "The two new teams should make the league more competitive."
Gennie Yen, promotions director for Hung Kuo, agrees that the game, rather than the event, will become more important. "The first year there was a certain amount of attractiveness because everything was new," she said. "But this year the play on the court must be more exciting. Otherwise the audiences will get a little bored."
While leaving a lot of room for improvement, the level of play for a league only in its second year would probably surprise many foreign fans. For comparison, the ROC national team placed fourth at the recent Asian Championship. The four imported players on CBA rosters balance out the abilities of the six teams and make for a quick, physical game. Two of the imports are from mainland China, while the remainder are from the States. Several of the imports have limited NBA experience.
Luckipar's Lew says the CBA teams could compete with major college teams in the United States. "We would probably compare to low Division I or high Division II teams," says Lew. "Some of the local players, like (Hung Kuo's) Cheng Chih-lung and (Yulon's) Dong Fang Chieh-te, could probably play for a good Division I team."
Only Way But Up
While the league is young, basketball has a long history in Taiwan. All of the six pro teams are graduates of Taiwan's amateur leagues, which itself dates back to leagues in mainland China. The popularity of basketball has been boosted by the annual summer Jones Cup tournament which has brought in teams from across the globe since 1977. This summer's tournament showed that the game has truly arrived, with a sold-out crowd of 12,000 at the Taoyuan Dome to watch Yulon and Hung Kuo on one of the final days of action.
As the league moves into its second season, what would a fan from abroad expect to see at a game? "It's a different experience from the NBA," said Lew. "It would be worth the money to see how Chinese people treat the game of basketball."
If you want to attend a basketball game, they are generally held Tuesdays through Sundays around the island. For schedule information, call the CBA office at (02) 577-5577. Schedules are also printed in the China News Weekend Section. Tickets are available at ERA outlets and at the stadiums, but it is advisable to buy tickets early as many games sell out.