A total of 22 basketball teams have been approved as the first batch of franchises to join Japan's new top-tier B-League Premier, set to launch in 2026, the league said Thursday.The B-League aims to become the world's No. 2 basketball competition, behind only the North America-based National Basketball Association, in terms of business, viewership and quality of play.The 22 teams met criteria such as having an arena with a capacity of more than 5,000, including a number of premium seats, as well as sales and average attendance.Eighteen of the teams currently belong to the league's B1, while…READ FULL ARTICLE