Former P.League+ chief executive officer and chairman Charles “Blackie” Chen on Thursday officially stepped down from his posts as the six-team basketball league announced his successor.
The league said in a statement that Pauian Archiland Group president Thomas Lee, owner of the league’s Taoyuan Pauian Pilots, was elected by the P.League+ board of directors as its new chairman and CEO at a meeting earlier in the day.
The league thanked Chen for his contributions to professional basketball in Taiwan and said it looked forward to working with him despite his departure.
Photo: CNA
It took the league much longer to make the announcement after two prospective CEOs were mired in scandal in late June and early July.
Four days after Chen announced in late June that he would be taking leave as CEO, following accusations by several female entertainers, the league announced that its marketing director, Chou Chung-wei, would serve as acting CEO.
However, Chou stepped down from the league’s leadership after less than a week following a leaked video showing him attempting to hug a cheerleader from the New Taipei Kings at an unidentified karaoke establishment on an unspecified date.
Photo: CNA
Chou was also suspended from his role as marketing director for an unspecified period, the P.League+ said at the time, adding that it would likely elect a new CEO in August.
However, the P.League+ did not announce a new CEO. Instead, rumors emerged early last month that some teams from the P.League+ and the T1 League were planning to form a third league.
The national basketball association’s secretary-general, Lee Yun-hsiang, on Sept. 12 told reporters that the association would not allow three professional leagues in Taiwan at the same time.
About a week later, the P.League+ Formosa Dreamers announced the Interleague Basketball Games on Oct. 21 and 22 at the team’s home court in Taichung, with the P.League+’s Pilots, Taipei Fubon Braves and the T1 League’s New Taipei CTBC DEA and Kaohsiung Aquas to play.
The five teams had been linked to the rumored third league.
P.League+ commentator Hu Chun-chi said during a YouTube livestream that two interleague competitions were organized by the national association last year and this year, but this month’s tournament being organized by the Dreamers indicated that there might be major changes in store for professional basketball in Taiwan.
The Interleague Basketball Games would be an opportunity for the teams involved to assess the prospects of collaboration, other pundits said.
The Ball Up YouTube channel last week said that the Taichung Suns exclusion from the T1 League’s upcoming season over financial issues was influencing discussions over a potential new league, which had apparently also approached the New Taipei Kings, Jeremy Lin’s new team, and the Hsinchu Jko Lioneers, both from the P.League+.
The plan was to launch the new league in the upcoming season, but a decision was delayed after one of the seven teams thought it would have been too much of a rush for this year, the video said.
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