Bj-league
 |
|
| Sport | basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Inaugural season | 2005–06 |
| Ceased | 2016 |
| Replaced by | B.League |
| Owner(s) | Basketball Japan League Co., Ltd. |
| Commissioner | Toshimitsu Kawachi |
| No. of teams | 24 |
| Country |
 Japan
|
| Continent | FIBA Asia |
| Last champion(s) |
Ryukyu Golden Kings (4th title) |
| Most titles | Ryukyu Golden Kings (4 titles) |
| TV partner(s) | BS Fuji, Gaora |
| Sponsor(s) | Turkish Airlines (2014–2016) |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
The bj league (日本プロバスケットボールリーグ Nihon Puro Basukettobōru Rīgu, also referred to as the Basketball Japan League) was a professional basketball league in Japan that began in November 2005 as a six-team league. The league was operated as a competitor to the established Japan Super League which was run by the Japan Basketball Association, the official governing body of basketball in Japan. Over the next ten years the league saw continual expansion, with at least one new team joining every season, reaching 24 teams divided into two conferences in its final season in 2015–16. Turkish Airlines was the major sponsor of the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons.
The bj league operated on the American sports franchise system. This was in contrast to the Japan Super League and its successor, the National Basketball League, which was a corporate league composed primarily of company teams and other clubs affiliated with the JBA. There was no system of promotion and relegation between the two leagues. This division in the administration of the sport resulted in FIBA suspending the JBA from November 2014 until August 2015. As a condition of lifting the suspension, the bj league merged with the NBL and the National Basketball Development League to form the B.League.
The formation of the league commenced in August 2004 with an announcement by Niigata Albirex BB and Saitama Broncos that they were withdrawing their membership of the Japan Basketball Association, and the establishment of a intermediary corporation later the same month that was tasked with forming a new league. In November 2004 the formation of the bj league was officially announced, with four newly-formed clubs (Oita Heat Devils, Osaka Deinonychus, Sendai 89ers and Tokyo Apache) to join the Niigata and Saitama teams. In May 2005 the owners of the Osaka franchise faced financial difficulty and transferred their licence to the club's intended main sponsor, who instead formed Osaka Evessa. In October 2005, three weeks prior to the start of the league's first season, the league announced its first expansion, with the Takamatsu Five Arrows and Toyama Grouses to join the 2006–07 season.
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