The Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) assesses that changing the playoff semifinal and final format to a best-of-five series in the 2026 season has shown positive results. The continuously increasing audience enthusiasm is one of the main reasons the league extended the match format during the championship-deciding phase.
IBL President Director Junas Miradiarsyah stated that the idea of increasing the number of playoff games has actually been discussed for several seasons. However, the decision was only made after observing improvements in competition quality and spectator attendance at game venues.
“Thankfully, with this year’s format or innovation, where the semifinals and finals became best-of-five from the previous best-of-three, this is something we have been planning for several seasons. We saw that the quality of the games continues to improve and spectator attendance at each team’s home arena has also increased,” said Junas.
According to him, adding more games will have a positive impact on both teams and fans. Teams get more competitive matches, while spectators enjoy more exciting and unpredictable entertainment.
Junas cited last season’s playoffs, where several series had to be decided in the third game. This condition became an indicator that competition among teams is increasingly tight and deserves a longer format.
“If the quality of the games is high and the number of games is increased, it will certainly make the teams better because it’s more competitive. For fans, it also becomes more interesting,” he said.
The IBL also noted a positive public response to the first game of this season’s playoffs. According to Junas, ticket sales for the opening game showed an encouraging trend.
“For the first game on Friday, I think it was very good, even above expectations. I checked with the Satria Muda team, and their ticket sales were already above 70 percent. This shows that spectator enthusiasm has been visible since the first game,” he said.
He added that the best-of-five format also benefits teams that finished higher in the regular season because they have more opportunities to play at home.
This condition is considered to make each game more important, while also encouraging an improved competitive atmosphere.
Junas revealed that the IBL has actually long received input regarding the possibility of implementing a best-of-seven format in the playoff phase.
However, the league emphasized that the decision to increase the number of games must be based on business considerations and competition quality.
“Actually, it is not too difficult for the regulator to increase the number of games to five or seven. But we must have strong foundational considerations,” said Junas.
According to him, the first factor is the growth in spectator numbers. If ticket sales continue to increase, then additional games will provide benefits for clubs and the league ecosystem as a whole.
Additionally, the IBL also considers the competitive level of the games. In previous seasons, many playoff series ended with a decisive 2-0 score, which was considered less interesting if the number of games was increased.
Now, with more games being tightly contested until the deciding match, the opportunity to expand the game format in the future becomes more open.
Junas considers one indicator of competition success to be the emergence of different champions in recent seasons.
In the last four seasons, the IBL championship title has always been won by a different team. This condition shows a more evenly distributed level of competition compared to previous eras.
“The more competitive and unpredictable it becomes, the better it will be for fans. Clubs also feel they have a chance to compete for the championship,” he said.
In addition to the improvement in game quality, the IBL also recorded growth in spectator numbers throughout the 2026 regular season.
According to Junas, overall, there was an increase in spectator attendance of more than 21 percent compared to the previous season. Several clubs even recorded more significant growth, including teams from Bandung, Solo, and Rajawali.
Not only assessing on-court performance, the IBL is now also starting to release club ranking data based on social media activity and spectator attendance.
This step is expected to encourage clubs to continue building a stronger fan base as the quality of national basketball competition improves.
