Pacific Ocean Basketball Association

Founded
 Inaugural season
 Most recentseason
 Most Championships
 Network

**The Pacific Ocean Basketball Association (POBA)** is the largest professional basketball league of the Pacific Ocean. It is also the biggest sports association in all of the ocean. The Bikini Bottom Bulldogs compete in the POBA, in the series *Basket Sponge*.

Since 2016, follows a 16-team single elimination playoff format, except for the finals wherein a best-of-seven format is used. It followed the same format prior to 2010 but was changed for cost cutting purposes.

## History

### Creation and Global League Expansion (1995–1998)

Following the need for a global basketball club league, the Pacific Ocean Basketball Association was created on March 13, 1995 and was joined by nine initial teams. The inaugural season began on September 16 and followed a four-team playoff format with single-elimination quarterfinals and a best-of-seven finals series.
The first championship was won by the New Kelp Warriors.
Though being in the finals the previous year, the Toronto Thunder disbanded after the season and left for the 1996–97 season. This caused the league to expand and accept four new expansion teams to the league.

The London Lancers (now Manchester Mermen) and Harlem Globetrotters were the first true rivalry in the league. They faced off in the 1998 and 1999 finals with both taking one series. This rivalry, however, was short lived. The Lancers only entered one more finals after this and the Globetrotters never entered the finals since.

### Sixteen Team Playoff era (1998–2010)

Following futher expansions in the past years, the league settled on a sixteen team playoff season. Every game before the finals was settled in a single-elimination format while the finals remained as a best-of-seven series.

During this era, the most successful franchises were the Denver Dolphins, the Chicago Giants, and the Daisy Town Dandelions.

### Single Elimination era (2010–2014)

By 2010, the league grew to a whopping 22 teams. This forced the league to enact a cost-cutting scheme by reducing the amount of games played in the offseason. This meant that the finals also followed a single-elimination game. This, in turn, created healthy parity across the league.

### Further Expansion and Bulldogs Dynasty (2014–2016)

The league lost the Hellhill Heat and the Old Town Ringers in 2014 but in return, gained three new expansion franchises, bringing the league to a record 23 teams. In 2015, the Sting Rays left the league, opening another expansion bringing in two new teams which brought in a record number 24 teams for the 2015–16 season.

During this era of parity and abundance of teams, one team stood out from the rest. The Bikini Bottom Bulldogs proved to be the new top dog in the league, led by their head coach LeBron James.

This brought the start to a new age rivalry against the Toon Tomahawks, beating them in both the 2015 and 2016 finals.

### Hiatus and Restructuring (2016–2019)

The amount of teams proved to be too much for the league to handle. Revenue remained stagnant for the past few seasons and it was decided to put the league on a hiatus while they looked for ways to restructure the league. The league was shut down for the next three years while they focused on contracting and focusing on a better business model.

During this restructuring period, nine teams were let go from the league and only one new team was admitted in 2017. This brought the league back to sixteen teams.

### Modern era (2019–present)

Currently, there are five teams from the Americas, six from Oceania, three from Asia, and two from Europe. The league returned in 2019 with a 15 game elimination round, a single elimination 16-team playoff, and a best-of-seven finals series. The Bikini Bottom Bulldogs won the first modern POBA championship led by their new coach Kobe Bryant.

For the 2020–21 season, the league brought in new broadcast networks to bring the league to homes worldwide. They also plan to implement a best-of-seven series for all playoff series going forward. The league will start implementing a new eight-team playoff series, making the season more competitive and reducing the number of redundant, unnecessary games. The season is known as the "New Season" due to all the changes going through that season, from name changes to relocations to new ownership

## Teams

### Defunct

*Main Article: List of Defunct POBA Teams*
## Seasons

*Main Article: List of POBA seasons*
This section only contains content from the SBFW-run seasons (2020 onwards). For the full list, see the main article.

## Champions

*Main Article: List of POBA champions*
This section only contains content from the SBFW-run seasons (2020 onwards). For the full list, see the main article.

### Defunct

*Main Article: List of Defunct POBA Teams*

## Hall of Fame

### Coaches

* Art Van Lier (inducted 1999)
* Desmond Mason (inducted 2000)
* Callum Cardiff (inducted 2004)
* Jerry Carsdorf (inducted 2011)
* LeBron James (inducted 2016)
* Kobe Bryant (inducted 2020)

## References

Template:Reflist

1. ↑ https://spongefan.fandom.com/wiki/2020-21\_POBA\_season/Games
2. ↑ https://spongefan.fandom.com/wiki/2021\_POBA\_season/Games
3. ↑ https://spongefan.fandom.com/wiki/Basket\_Sponge\_(season\_1)
4. ↑ https://spongefan.fandom.com/wiki/Basket\_Sponge\_(season\_3)
5. ↑ https://spongefan.fandom.com/wiki/Basket\_Sponge\_(season\_4)
6. ↑ https://spongefan.fandom.com/wiki/2020-21\_POBA\_season/Games
7. ↑ https://spongefan.fandom.com/wiki/2021\_POBA\_season/Games
8. ↑ https://spongefan.fandom.com/wiki/2021-22\_POBA\_season/Games