Inter-gov’t/biz hoops league set for Oct. 28

The 2nd Annual R&J Wine and Liquor Inter-Gov’t/Business League 2024 is now set with 12 teams and is slated to start on Monday, Oct. 28, at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

There are six government teams—last season’s champions PSS and CPA, CHCC, Feds, DFEMS, and CUC. The business teams are last year’s runner-up Priority Care, and Marpac, Docomo, IT&E, Foremost (Coca-Cola/Subway), and E-Land.

The first game on Oct. 28 is a finals rematch between defending champions PSS and Priority Care.

The rest of the teams will draw on Oct. 15 when the organizer—Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation—and the teams meet for the final rosters and employment verifications.

According to NMIBF president James Lee, the league is strictly for businesses and government agencies. “Players must be employed at a company for more than two months,” he said.

The entrance fee was $800 per team and didn’t include uniforms. CNMI Design/Hagu Real had offered a special rate as part of their sponsorship for the league and gave $35 per full set of uniforms (no set up fees), a banner, and a towel for each player.

Games will be played round-robin in the regular season with the Top 7 teams advancing to the single elimination playoff. The number one seeded team in the regular season will get a bye.

“NMIBF wants to thank our title sponsor R&J Wine and Liquor and our corporate sponsor Hagu Real,” said Lee.