New rules for Israeli league

A key meeting of the BSL board over the last weekend resulted several decisions regarding the following season. Among the changes are the foreigner rules, the competition system, the minimum budget and the season schedule.

* Foreigner Rules
- In the 2010/11 season as well two Israeli players will have to be on the court at the same time.
- The number of foreigners to register during the season remains on 8, however the number of non-Israeli players to be registered per each game will be reduced from 6 (as this season) to 5.

Budgets
- The minimum budget for next season will increase in 300,000 NIS and will stand on 4,500,000 NIS (approx 1,100,000 USD).
- The minimum budget for teams who wish to participate in a European competition will be 6,000,000 NIS (approx. 1,600,000 USD).
- The minimum budget for teams in the BSL for the 2011/12 season will be 5,000,000 NIS (approx. 1,300,000 USD).

Competition System
- The league will remain with 12 teams playing two rounds of 11 home and 11 away games, it will be decided in a Final Four format and the F4 participants will qualify from best-of-five quarter-final games.
- The changes come after the end of the 22 regular season games when the top 8 teams will play an additional league between themselves of a single round. That will add 7 more games per each team, and the quarter-finals pairs will be set according to the final standings after the additional new round.
- The teams ranked 9-12 at the end of the regular season will play between each other in a home-away system, which will add 6 games per each team. The last two teams in the new phase will drop from the league.

Calendar
- The season will tip off on 10/10/10, three days after Winner Cup (3-7 Oct.) will be decided.
- The regular season will reach its final line on 18/03/11.
- The 6th Final Four will take place on 24 and 26 of May 2011.