While the Ateneo-San Beda rivalry was ongoing, the seed for a future rivalry was planted after an Ateneo loss to La Salle in the championship game of NCAA season 16 (1939–40). Games between Ateneo and La Salle in the NCAA were always hotly contested but not yet tagged by the sportswriters as a rivalry. When Ateneo and La Salle transferred to the UAAP, San Beda was left in the NCAA. Ateneo and La Salle continued their hotly contested games into the UAAP and the sports press started to write about a rivalry. The basketball games between the Blue Eagles and the Green Archers are the most anticipated matches in every UAAP season. During the 1988 season, Ateneo was the defending champion and they faced La Salle in the Finals. A deep Ateneo lineup ended up winning the crown, triggering a full-blown rivalry. Recently, the intensity of the rivalry has picked up due to Ateneo and La Salle meeting in the UAAP Finals 5 times, in 2001 (won by La Salle), 2002 (won by Ateneo), 2008 (won by Ateneo), 2016 (won by La Salle) and 2017 (won by Ateneo). The UAAP is guaranteed high TV ratings and sold-out tickets, resulting in ticket scalping, when Ateneo and La Salle clash on the hardcourt. These games draw huge crowds of students, school faculty/officials, alums, high government officials such as cabinet members, senators and even a chief justice of the Supreme Court. Former presidents of the Philippines and ambassadors of the United States of America also attend the games.