Hong Kong SAR, July 19, 2023 –The Bay Area Dragons, the new face of Chinese basketball, featuring top professional players from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and the Chinese diaspora, will make Hong Kong its home beginning in August 2023, with games being played between October 2023 and March 2024.
The Bay Area Dragons, the groundbreaking professional basketball team created by East Asia Super League (EASL) to represent Greater China talent, will be located in Hong Kong for most of the 2023-24 season, also spending time in Manila.
The Bay Area Dragons will play EASL home games at Southorn Stadium. This will include three home games in the East Asia Super League Season 2 group stage, against Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup champions Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Japan B.LEAGUE 2022-23 champions Ryukyu Golden Kings, and Korean Basketball League 2022-23 runners-up Seoul SK Knights.
“We expect the Dragons to bring Hong Kongers immense excitement, inspiration and pride. Dragons’ games will be the hottest sports tickets in town,” said EASL CEO and co-founder Matt Beyer.
The Dragons will also play home games in Hong Kong as part of the 2024 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup. The team is entering the Philippine championship for a second season after a highly successful first season in 2022-23. Participation in the Commissioner’s Cup will mean that the Dragons spend portions of the season in Manila.
“The PBA is very excited about adding in a Hong Kong element to our upcoming Commissioner’s Cup, and we look forward to the Bay Area Dragons team re-joining the PBA,” said PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial.
The Dragons are operating in Hong Kong in partnership with local team Chun Yu Basketball Club and with the recognition of the Hong Kong Basketball Association. Under the partnership with Chun Yu Basketball Club, the full name of the Dragons for the 2023-24 season will be the Chun Yu Bay Area Dragons. Last season, the team was simply called the Bay Area Dragons.
The Dragons squad for 2023-24 is currently being assembled. It will include Chinese stars Zhu Songwei and Liu Chuanxing, who played with the team in 2022-23. Several other players from last season will be returning and they will be joined by exciting new talent. The team will also include Team Hong Kong captain Duncan Reid and former South China standout Glen Yang.
The Dragons will continue to be led by its world-class coaching team comprising: Head Coach Brian Goorjian, General Manager Liu Quansheng, assisted by Vice General Manager Garrison Guo, Assistant Coaches William Tomlinson and Jimmy Li, and strength and conditioning coach Francesco Berre.
The Dragons will enter the 2023-24 season with a fresh new look, as the team’s logo and brand have been redesigned. There will also be a new uniform design for the team this season. A graphic of the new logo will be available in the media pack accompanying this release. The logo and branding will be exhibited in social media posts in the coming days on Bay Area Dragons and East Asia Super League accounts.
Supporting Hong Kong basketball
Through Chun Yu Basketball Club, the Dragons will be plugged into Hong Kong’s youth basketball scene and will play a powerful role in supporting it. Plans are underway for clinics and workshops led by Dragons coaches, to educate and inspire local athletes, promising youth talent and coaches.
“The Chun Yu Basketball Club has a long tradition in Hong Kong, and we are excited to support the Bay Area Dragons in bringing a new level of international club basketball to Hong Kong,” said Sherman Yeung, President of Chun Yu Basketball Club.
The Dragons will also be continuing their strong track record of community outreach, with plans to connect with and support local community groups and charities in Hong Kong. When based in Manila last year, the Dragons were involved in several successful initiatives with local charities as well as the Chinese embassy.
The Dragons’ new base in Hong Kong also means that the team’s commercial and marketing teams will be active in the market.
The commercial team will be striking mutually-beneficial partnerships with local and international businesses keen to be associated with Hong Kong’s biggest professional sports team. These will include engaging and interactive activations for Dragons fans and other Hong Kongers.
The Dragons marketing team is already active creating content around the team in its new base. This content will put the city of Hong Kong and its basketball scene in the spotlight throughout the season.
EASL and the Dragons will release further information in the coming weeks about the full Dragons’ roster for 2022-23, the game schedule, and how to buy tickets for the games.
Dragons coming off breakout season
In 2022-23, the Bay Area Dragons entered a partnership with the Philippine Basketball Association to compete in the Commissioner’s Cup, one of the PBA’s three main annual national championships.
Over the course of an extraordinary season, the Dragons finished top of the regular-season standings and made it all the way to Game 7 of the Commissioner’s Cup Finals, eventually being beaten by Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. The Finals drew enormous crowds, culminating in a mind-blowing 55,000 crowd for Game 7 at the Philippine Arena in Manila, that broke the PBA’s single-game attendance record.
The Dragons’ PBA run electrified Filipino fans and left a lasting mark on the local basketball scene. So much so, that the PBA and its teams were glad to welcome the Dragons back for a second season.
EASL Season 2 has been given added spice with the Dragons drawn in the same group as Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. This means at least two additional games between the rivals in 2023-24, this time on the pan-regional stage, competing for regional championship honors.