BSN
BSN stands for Baloncesto Superior Nacional De Puerto Rico, or Puerto Rican Superior National Basketball League. It was established in 1933, and it has produced a handful of NBA players and a lot of classic games and emotive moments to its fans.The BSN league has had teams in many cities, although for economical reasons, they prefer to stay within Puerto Rico's larger towns. Each year, the regular season is played to a length of either 30 or 33 games per team, and then there is a round robin pitting the best 8 teams of the season, after which the best 4 start the semi-final series, to be played to a best of 7, followed by the finals, also to a best of 7.
In 2003, the Cangrejeros de Santurce won their fifth franchise BSN title by sweeping the defending champion, Leones de Ponce. The Leones have 12 championships. The Vaqueros de Bayamon and Atleticos de San German are tied with 13 championships each for the league's all-time championship lead.
The BSN was a struggling league economically until the 1980s, when, with Genaro 'Tuto' Marchand as President, an explosion of basketball popularity happened all over Puerto Rico. Basketball tumbled Baseball as the Puerto Rican fan's 2nd favorite sport after boxing at that time.
The fact that WAPA-TV channel 4 transmitted 6 games a week for the whole island to see, was a major contributor to this change in popularity. These games were shown Sundays at 2 pm, Sundays at 9 pm, Wednesday nights at 9, Friday nights at 9, and Saturdays at 2 pm and at 9 pm.
During that time, legends like Mario Morales, Raymond Dalmau, Jose Piculin Ortiz, Jerome Mincy, Georgie Torres, Angelo Cruz, Angel Cachorro Santiago, Federico Fico Lopez and Ruben Rodriguez showcased their talents to all Puerto Rican TV viewers and game goers.
After Hetin Reyes took the league over there were economic problems, but in part this is due to the rise in the cost of living. Nevertheless, the league continues to operate with 16 franchises and is looking at the future with optimism.
Member Teams
