Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Olivia Grange (second right) at yesterday's launch of the National Basketball League at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston. Others (from left) are Tanya Lee, marketing manager of Sportsmax; Sharon Roper, director of marketing at Flow; Pete Matthews, vice-president of the Jamaica Basketball Association (JBA); and Ajani Williams, president of the JBA. - Contributed

Local cable and telecommunications company Flow has sponsored this year's National Basketball League (NBL) to the tune of $8 million.

Ajani Williams, president of the Jamaica Basketball Association (JBA), made the announcement yesterday at a press launch held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston.

"It is now truly a National Basketball League," said Williams. "The expanded league will now see 15 teams from the rural conferences joining the established 12 teams in the Southern Conference that traditionally participate in the nation's top basketball competition, so we are looking forward to some great basketball over the next 12 weeks," Williams said.

Sharon Roper, director of marketing at Flow, said her company was very excited to be associated with the NBL.

"We are committed to supporting basketball because we identify it as one of the fastest growing sports, and Ajani (Williams) presented a package that is really going to take basketball to another level, and we are very keen to get involved and help with this development," said Roper.

Tip off

"It has always been Flow's game plan to exponentially increase the level of exposure for the competition, as well as elevate how the competition is executed through our involvement," Roper added.

The delayed NBL competition, which in former years began as early as April, will tip off tomorrow at the National Stadium Courts.

SportsMax will also be partnering with Flow to broadcast two live games and eight highlight shows. A local radio station will do one broadcast per week in the regular season and live broadcast of the conference of the conference finals and the best-of-three finals.

In addition, the team of Flow, JBA and SportsMax will create more entertainment value around the matches, such as exciting half-time shows featuring top local artistes, and cheerleading as part of the weekly entertainment package.

This year's competition will be broadcast to over $1 million homes through the regional broadcast of SportsMax to 22 Caribbean countries. Flow's channel 100 will also be used to promote the NBL.

Twenty-seven teams are down to contest this year's competition, which includes 12 teams from the Southern Conference, five from the Western, five from the Central and five from the Eastern.

Prize money

The winners of this year's competition will receive $300,000, the runners-up will take home $125,000, the third-place side $65,000 and fourth place $40,000.

In addition to the prize money, each team will also receive a start-up grant of $35,000 which will go towards their travelling expenses. The top two teams in the Southern Conference, at the end of the regular season, will be the top two seeds, while the play-offs will feature three other Southern Conference teams and the winners of the Western, Eastern and Central conferences.