WITH its boxing series already gaining ground, the Omega Pro Sports International (OPSI) is looking to make its presence felt in another avenue as it set to launch a province-wide basketball tournament.
Though the name of the tournament is yet to be finalized, OPSI aims to develop grassroots basketball, develop talents in the countryside and promote sports tourism.
“We’re looking at between summer to July 2017. Games played every weekend. For the final schedule, we’ll consult the teams. We need to be in sync with each other so we start on time and end on time” said Rico Navarro, vice president of OPSI, who is also handling the “Who’s Next?” Pro Boxing Series.
The league, which will be spearheaded by tournament director Van Halen Parmis, will have the northeast, northwest southeast and southwest divisions. Each division will have four teams or at least three squads. Each town will have two teams for the Under-18 (born 1999) and Under-28 (born 1989) categories.
Using a home and away format, the league will have double round robin elimination phase.
In the playoffs, higher seeds will get homecourt advantages. Semifinals will be a best-of-three affair following a 1-1-1 homecourt format. The finals, pitting the north and south champions, will face each other in a best-of-five series on a 2-2-1 homecourt format. Homecourt edge goes to the team with the better elimination round record. In case of a tie, goal difference will be applied as a tie-breaker.
“OPSI seeks to take basketball to a different level as we take the roadshow on the road. We’ll dress up sports venues, bring in music, entertainment, engage the local town supporters and find ways to make things exciting and entertaining – every weekend for a period of two to three months,” said Navarro.
OPSI will make further announcement as to prizes and final schedule.