PBA puts expansion on hold; teams stay

MANILA, Philippines —  PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa isn’t rushing expansion and even as at least two corporations are knocking on the pro league’s door, the decision for the moment is to retain 12 franchises in the fold.

“We’re holding things in abeyance,” said Narvasa. “There is interest from at least two entities to join the PBA and of course, that’s a positive sign. But right now, our schedule is full. What days in the week do we add if we expand to more than 12 teams? Instead, we’re focusing on every existing franchise to improve. The coming draft on Oct. 29 will be deep and bring in a lot of exciting talent.”

Narvasa said the recent Blackwater turnaround should inspire teams in the lower half of the leader board to improve their standing. “A team like Kia should be encouraged by what Blackwater has done,” he said. “Not being competitive isn’t good for the brand of a team or the PBA. We know there’s such a thing as a learning curve but a team can’t take too long to move up. Take the MVP and San Miguel teams. They take pride in all the brands they carry and that should prod other teams to find ways to improve. It’s a challenge for other teams to beat their standards of good competition.”

Narvasa cited the case of Rain Or Shine as an “independent” franchise that has been a constant contender. In the Governors Cup, the Elasto Painters finished in a four-way tie for fourth place at the end of the eliminations and pushed TNT to the brink before bowing out of the quarterfinal playoffs. Rain Or Shine was the only PBA team to release two veterans, Gabe Norwood and Raymond Almazan, to Gilas for the FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon while the third conference was underway. Two other teams, TNT and Alaska, released a veteran and a cadet.

Another case that Narvasa singled out was Blackwater. The Elite made it to the Governors Cup playoffs and forced Meralco to a do-or-die duel before yielding. A series of bold trades had brought Blackwater to a higher level of competitiveness. Narvasa also mentioned Phoenix as an example of a franchise looking to retool by acquiring additional picks in the coming draft.

Regarding live attendance of games, Narvasa said he expects ticket sales to pick up in the Governors Cup Finals between Barangay Ginebra and Meralco. “There’s been no significant increase in attendance,” he said. “We’re at par with last season. We were affected by the long break and the gate in the Commissioner’s Cup suffered. What’s encouraging is the tremendous increase in social media involvement, particularly in our livestream of games. We realize the constraints in TV viewership because the start-up time of our first game is 4:15 p.m. Due to traffic, office workers and students get home later than usual. But we’ve noticed a high volume of hits in our website, showing a lot of viewers glued to our livestream. PBA Rush, which shows live games and replays, is now the No. 1 sports cable channel in terms of viewership with the exception of the NBA. We now get the same viewership in our live games on TV5 as in the replay on Rush the next morning which is an indication that the call center millennials are tuned in. It’s too bad that we don’t play games on Monday because that’s when the call center millennials are off-duty.”

Asked if Philippine-born or long-time resident foreigners may someday be allowed to play in the PBA as locals, Narvasa said it’s up to the Board of Governors to determine the qualifications of eligibility. The case of former Ateneo star Kirk Long, an American, has been raised in social media as a possible exception to the rule that allows only players with Filipino blood to join the PBA as locals. Another American who was born here and has lived in the country for over 18 years is basketball star Kelly Hardeman who is female. 

In the NBA, former UCLA standout Ann Meyers signed a $50,000 contract to try out with the Indiana Pacers in 1979 and survived three days of camp until she was cut. In 1986, Nancy Lieberman became the first woman to play in a men’s pro league, the USBL. Would the PBA ever consider taking in a woman like Hardeman? Narvasa crinkled his forehead, smiled and said, “that would be up to the Board.”