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NMIBF to revive men’s island-wide league
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Posted on Mar 06 2023
CNMI national men’s team member Eli Aughenbaugh goes up for a layup in this file photo from a recent basketball league. (NMIBF)
After more than a decade, the Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation will be reviving what used to be the Budweiser Cup Men’s Island-Wide Basketball League.
NMIBF president James Lee said like previous renditions of the Bud Cup, the league will crown the best men’s open team in the CNMI.
However, there will be a name change as Budweiser has given way to Michelob Ultra as the main sponsor of the competition.
“There are many reasons for bringing back the men’s island-wide basketball league. But the main reason is this was always been the signature basketball league everyone would look forward to before and so what better time to revive it with a new facility at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium,” said Lee.
The Ada Gym in recent months had undergone extensive renovation with help from the Northern Marianas Sports Association. It now boasts of new bleachers, flooring, basketball goals, and for the first time since it was built, the facility is now fully air-conditioned.
Initial plans call for the “Ultra Cup” to kick off in mid-April with 14 teams duking it out not only for a year’s worth of bragging rights but a handsome championship cash prize as well.
Lee said teams can enlist a maximum of 14 players and the 14 teams will be grouped into two pools of seven and will battle it out in a single-round elimination format.
The Top 4 teams in each pool will then advance to the playoffs where it will be single elimination and the winner takes all the prize money.
Lee, who is Beverage and Tobacco manager at MARPAC, said while he won’t exactly divulge the championship purse yet, he did promise that “participating teams and fans won’t be disappointed.”
While he’d rather keep some of the “Ultra Cup” details closer to his vest, Lee did divulge that NMBF will be naming the league’s MVP the Uncle Paul Shimizu MVP Award.
Shimizu was not only one of MARPAC’s owners, but also was a former Guam national basketball player, gold medalist, and national coach.
Shimizu, who passed away in March 2021, was the youngest of four siblings born to Ambrosio Shimizu, the founder of Ambros, Inc., which owns MARPAC.
