Manila will host East Asia Super League's inaugural Final Four

The East Asia Super League (EASL) announced that the Final Four of the inaugural pan-regional home-and-away season will take place in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

The Final Four will feature the semifinals on March 3, 2023, a music festival on March 4, followed by the championship game and third-place game on March 5. 

"East Asia Super League’s Final Four Weekend will deliver more than premier basketball competition. The weekend will be an incredible fan experience, bringing people together with concerts from top music artists, pop-up events, meet-and-greets with top players and more," says the EASL's press release.

The following season, in early 2024, the EASL's Final Four weekend will take place in Okinawa, Japan.

The East Asia Super League features top teams from China’s CBA, Japan's B.League, South Korea's KBL and the Philippines' PBA. Eight teams will face off in an inaugural home-and-away season that begins on October 12, 2022. The teams compete over the course of six months, culminating in a Final Four tournament with a $1 million prize for the winning squad. It’s essentially the Asian-basketball version of soccer’s UEFA Champions League. The league is also planning an upcoming reality show.

“We want to be the premier basketball league in Asia,” EASL Commissioner Matt Beyer told Basketball News. “But we also want to be a top-three league in the world in terms of fan-base size and commercial revenue by 2025... I think the league is really going to be the first Asia-originated sports property that’s going to be capturing the hearts and minds of fans globally."

For more info about the East Asia Super League, check out this behind-the-scenes look at the league, which has added Jalen Green, Baron Davis, Shane Battier and Metta Sandiford-Artest as investors.