9th Atlantian Oceania Basketball Championship
and
1st Atlantian Oceania Basketball Champions League
The Harmonic Union of Equestrian States
The Equestrian Basketball Federation (EBF) and the Basketball Association of the North (BAN), along with the Royal Equestrian Basketball League (REBL), are pleased to announce that signups for the 9th Atlantian Oceania Basketball Championship and the 1st Atlantian Oceania Basketball Champions League, to be contested in arenas throughout Equestria and the Crystal Empire, are now open.
.
Atlantian Oceania Basketball Championship (AOBC)
The AOBC is the premier international basketball tournament in Atlantian Oceania and is presently the only known regularly-held regional championship for the sport. Many of the multiverse's best national basketball teams (past and present) call Atlantian Oceania home, and as such the AOBC is frequently contested by teams which also are no strangers to the latter rounds of the IBC.
Atlantian Oceania Basketball Champions League (AOBCL)
The AOBCL is a new competition, to be contested by the best club basketball teams from around Atlantian Oceania. Given that four of the current top ten domestic basketball associations are from Atlantian Oceania, the EBF and BAN have decided it is long past time that the region had a club basketball tournament of its own. The organizers hope that not only will the clubs participate from the well-established leagues including the Royal Equestrian Basketball League, Elven Basketball Association, and League of Hoops & Extraordinary Orange Things, but also from less well-known or newer leagues which may not have historically entered the IUBC tournaments.
.
OOC Details
I believe it's about time the AOBC had a proper solo running, not as a sideshow for the IBC or the AOlympics, but as its own tournament.
Residency, Puppets, and Gender-Exclusive National Teams
First, it must be noted that only nations residing in Atlantian Oceania at the time of this post will be eligible to compete, though special consideration may be given to nations which move into AO during the signup period upon request via telegram to this nation or PM to my Discord account (EQS on the NSS and AO servers).
Second, to sign up for the AOBC, all that is needed is a basic signup post. Users may also enter one additional nation as a puppet, so long as it is declared as such, though it is requested that those users whose main nation is not located in AO refrain from entering a second nation unless they are certain they will actively use it.
Alternatively, for those nations with gender-exclusive national teams, they may indicate in their signup post that they wish to enter them both individually, in which case they will be registered as separate entries (ex. Samplestan WNT, Samplestan MNT). Any user which chooses to do so may not enter an additional nation as a puppet. If a nation typically uses a gender-exclusive national team for international tournaments but doesn't wish to enter the team which doesn't typically compete, they may simply sign up as they would normally (ex. Samplestan) and do not have to indicate which team is competing (at least not until they post their roster).
AOBCL Entry
With regards to the AOBCL, users should indicate their interest in their signup post by noting the club(s) which they wish to enter using the following format:
Samplestan (SMP) AOBCL entries
Samplestan City Kings
Samplestanville Basketballers
Each participant may enter up to two clubs from their nation and may also enter club(s) from a puppet nation if they choose. It is asked that users wishing to participate in the AOBCL provide a scorinated league or equivalent competition (or a link to such a post in the IUBC and/or their domestic newswire thread) with their roster(s) and have one of their chosen representatives be their current domestic champions (a second team, if entered, may qualify through any method of the user's choosing, such as by: best regular season record, league/championship series runners-up, best non-IUBC participant, etc.). If numbers require the reduction of clubs to one from an association, only those clubs listed first by each nation will participate.
Users may choose to enter their nation(s) into the AOBC, AOBCL, or both competitions, although if a user posts something simple like "In" as their signup, it will be assumed that they mean to enter only the AOBC and will not be entered into the AOBCL unless they make a later post expressing interest.
Formats, Schedule, and RP Bonus
The exact formats and schedules for the AOBC and AOBCL are yet to be determined and will be announced once we have a better idea of who all is participating, but both will likely feature a single round robin group stage followed by a single-elimination knockout tournament, with all games being played at venues in the host nations. Depending on the timing of the AOBC/AOBCL and willingness to cooperate of the AOCAF and AOlympic Winter Challenge host(s), it is possible that RPs posted in their respective threads will be counted towards the AOBC/AOBCL and vice versa.
Regardless of format, modest ranking bonuses will be granted to teams/associations which have entered previous AOBCs and IBCs (or IUBCs for club teams), but most of the skill points for scorination will come from their RPs and rosters so as to not put those newcomers to the international and/or domestic levels at too much of a disadvantage while retaining some reward for those with prior experience.
As for the schedule, I intend to leave signups open for at least a full week, and potentially begin scorination two weeks from today, though this may be pushed back depending the kind of interest and responses we get.
Questions
If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns relating to the AOBC and/or AOBCL, please don't hestitate to ask them here in the thread, on the RMB, via TG/PM, or by pinging me on the regional or NS Sports Discord servers. I will try to respond as soon as I am able.
Signup Deadline: Saturday, March 19 at 11:59 PM EDT
AOBC IX Signups (15/??)
AOBCL I Signups (7/??)
