Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) said on Friday that a series of changes will be made to the rules for the 2009-2010 season of the domestic league, including cutting the three-point area.

"Most of the clubs welcome the changes," said Zhang Xiong, director of the league office.

According to Zhang, the three-point line will be extended to 6.75 meters, 50 centimeters further than before, during the playoffs of the 2009-2010 CBA season which will kick off on December 19.

"We want to minimize the negative impacts of the new rule. So we decided to change the three-point line length after the regular season," said Zhang.

The rule will take effect in international competitions as of October 1, 2010.

The three-second area will also be changed and a offensive protect area will be added under the basket, said Zhang.

A total of 17 teams, one less than last season, are scheduled to compete in the 2009-2010 season. Yunnan Honghe had to withdraw after failing to sign sponsors.

The regular season of the league will be played on a round-robin, home-and-away basis, with the top eight to qualify for the playoffs.

"This was a big change compared to last season when all the teams were divided into the North and South conferences and teams from the same conference played double home-and-away matches," said Zhang.

For the 2009-2010 season, eight matches will be played in each round and a total of 272 matches will be featured during the regular season.

"Last season was the longest and most successful season in the league's 15-year history. We recorded 590 million television viewers throughout the season, 62 percent higher than the previous season," said Ma Guoli, CEO of the Infront Ltd. in China, the marketing company of the league.

"We're looking forward to one of the best season in the CBA's history," said Zhang.

Each team is still allowed to recruit up to two foreign players outside Asia, but their total playing time in each match cannot exceed six quarters.

Meanwhile, a total of 34 local rookies, averaging 22.9 years old, will join the league.

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