MANILA, Philippines - The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) got a big boost recently after GE – an innovative and diversified technology company – agreed to be the title sponsor of the inaugural tournament, which fires off Saturday in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The sponsorship agreement was signed last week in Kuala Lumpur, which ABL officials said could be the start of something good for the league.
“It’s a good sign since we’re just starting and yet we have already a title sponsor,” said Harbour Centre CEO Mikee Romero, who co-owns the Philippine Patriots – one of the six teams in the league – with TV-5 (ABC-5) top honcho Tony Boy Cojuangco.
The agreement was signed by ABL chairman Tony Fernandes, Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE, Nani Beccali Falco, president and CEO of GE International, Stuart Dean, president and CEO of GE ASEAN, Dato Farid, CEO of TV3, Dato Yeoh Choo Hock, secretary general of FIBA Asia, Datuk Wira Daim and Ruben Ganalingam – owners of KL Dragons.
From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, healthcare, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide.
ABL also hopes that in the near future, an ASEAN basketball team will be part of the Olympics, a vision that aligns with GE, who is the Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Games.
All games of the Patriots plus matches of the other ABL squads will be shown on TV-5.