The Japan Professional Basketball League office "announced
that the new men’s basketball circuit" that tips off in the fall of '16
will be called the “B. League,” according to Kaz Nagatsuka of the JAPAN TIMES. The league’s logo "was also revealed." The league office explained the “B” in the league’s name does not just
stand for basketball, but is also meant to encompass other meanings
such as “Boys” and “Be ambitious.” Japan
Basketball Association President Saburo Kawabuchi, who led the
reformation of the sport’s national governing body and the unification
of the National Basketball League and bj-league as a co-chairman of the Japan 2024 Task Force, said, "I’ve told everyone, 'Let’s make a miracle happen.'" But it will not be the 78-year-old Kawabuchi, one of the J.League founders, "taking the reins of the B. League." JBA Secretary General Masaaki Okawa "will handle the heavy lifting of guiding the new hoop circuit as its chairman." Okawa, 57, who served as a right-hand-man for Kawabuchi in the J.League as a managing director, said, "The two leagues will be unified and the new professional league will begin. And to make it keep growing, I’m thrilled to carry the big role." The JPBL, which will operate the B. League, "also announced 11 other newly elected board members" (JAPAN TIMES, 9/15).
