Nike and the Jordan Brand have become the official outfitters of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), the new professional league of 12 African teams. The brands will be supplying uniforms, warm-up apparel, socks and practice gear. Nike will supply six teams and the Jordan Brand the other six. Play is scheduled to begin in March 2020. Games in the regular season will take place at venues in the six cities of Cairo, Dakar, Lagos, Luanda, Rabat and either Monastir or Tunis. The twelve clubs will be divided into two conferences. Each conference will be played in three cities, and each team will play five games. The top three teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs. These “Super 6” teams will then play in a round-robin tournament to determine the Final Four. The Final will be held in late spring 2020. Both the Final Four and the Final will take place in Kigali, Rwanda. The deal is the BAL's first partnership, while the NBA is for the first time helping to operate a league outside of North America. Both the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) will be investing to develop the sport in Africa, expanding its infrastructure and training players, coaches and referees.

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