MANILA, Philippines - PBA chairman Patrick Gregorio is a firm believer of team play. Throughout his professional career, Gregorio has achieved success because of his ability to work with others. As a leader, he appreciates the values of discipline, self-sacrifice, integrity and chemistry in the workplace.
As he embarks on his tour of duty at the helm of the PBA, Gregorio is convinced the league will go far if everyone stays together, works together and locks arms. “My chairmanship is not about me,” he said the other day. “It’s about the 40th season of the PBA. It’s about the 12 teams and my colleagues in the PBA Board. It’s our vision, our program and our dream. Basketball is a team game and teamwork is a must. The PBA Board is a good team with great teamwork.”
Last Tuesday, Gregorio’s imprint on the PBA was reflected in the first-ever Chairman’s Ball held at the Resorts World Manila. He said the event was staged to honor the wives, girlfriends and those who have stood by the coaches, players and team officials of the league. It was clearly a family affair, assembling the PBA community in a friendly atmosphere before the start of hostilities. That was Gregorio’s expression of teamwork.
In setting his “vision of progress” for the PBA, the 47-year-old Gregorio spoke of the importance of players going back to their barangays. The concept is to bring the PBA closer to the grassroots level and build a foundation for the future. “We’ll reach out to Filipino fans down to the barangay where our PBA players came from,” he said. “We want all PBA players, regardless of status, to go back to their home province, their barangay and conduct clinics. Whether you’re a starter or a role player in the PBA, you’re a superstar in your barangay. We’re thinking of tying up with Molten and perhaps a TV company so that when the players go home, they can give away basketballs and TV sets as donations to their barangay. Why TV sets? Because we want to expand the audience for our games by making available sets for general viewing.”
Gregorio said by reestablishing a player’s roots, the PBA is able to strengthen its foothold in a growing market. That’s the same driving force in his campaign to invite Asian reinforcements on an optional basis to play in the Governors Cup with a height limit of 6-4. The goal is to expand the PBA’s market here and abroad. He said his “vision of progress” is “good for business.”
Gregorio explained that with the trend of Asian integration, the PBA must look into business opportunities and linkages to enhance the value of the league as a whole and individually, its 12 franchises. “We want to grow our business and if this integration proves successful, we see no reason why the value of a PBA franchise won’t double in a few years,” he said. “Asian integration is alive but in the PBA context, we will push it slowly. Another repercussion is with more Asian presence, we can expect ESPN and Fox Sports to become increasingly interested in covering the PBA.”
Gregorio said in anything he does, what inspires him is the support of his family from his father Martin to his mother Lucille to his younger brothers Ryan and Allan to his wife Marichele and children Martin Raphael, 18, Patricia Michaela, 16 and Angela Gabrielle, 12. Both his parents are educators. His father was Vice President for Administration and a respected professor at UP while his mother is actively involved with UNESCO. The Gregorio brothers owe their love of the game to their father whom they refer to as “the original basketball addict.” Ryan used to coach Purefoods and Meralco and is now the Bolts’ alternate Governor in the PBA Board. Allan is N-Lex assistant team manager and coaching consultant.
Gregorio earned a Tourism Management degree with cum laude honors at UP in 1988 and for nearly 20 years, was immersed in promoting tourism, moving from Manila to Davao to Cebu. He took up courses in Singapore and Cornell University to broaden his knowledge of tourism and was president of the Waterfront chain of hotels and chairman of the Cebu Visitors and Conventions Bureau before joining the MVP Group. In recognition of his accomplishments in the industry, Gregorio was named the first The Most Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardee for tourism in the 45-year history of the prestigious Jaycees search. Today, he is senior vice president of Maynilad Water Services. He is also Talk ‘N’ Text’s representative in the PBA Board of Governors and secretary-general of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines.
Focusing on the PBA, Gregorio said his two priorities are the launch of the outreach program for all players and the introduction of Asian reinforcements. “We owe it to the PBA’s millions of fans and team owners to set a direction for the future,” he said. “The world is getting smaller and we should take advantage of the opportunities that the Gilas program has given us. Now, everybody knows about basketball in the Philippines. Coaches from Argentina, Croatia and Greece were introduced to how we play and love the game at the FIBA World Cup in Spain. This is our chance to export the PBA but in a way where we invite foreign interest to our country. The time has come for us to take baby steps in this direction and our first experiment in Asian integration will come in the Governors Cup.”
Gregorio’s proposal for the third conference is to allow each team to recruit an Asian reinforcement in addition to the “regular” imports. For “regular” imports, the height limit is 6-5 for the top eight finishers in the previous two conferences and no ceiling for the bottom four placers. With Asian reinforcements, Gregorio said the PBA will court a new market. “Take, for instance, Blackwater which does a lot of business in Indonesia,” he said. “I think Blackwater might sign up an Indonesian player. Kia Motors will probably recruit a Korean. This will generate interest from foreign partners and the foreign community in the Philippines. Imagine if we are able to tap the large Korean, Iranian, Chinese and Japanese communities in the country as a new market for the PBA.”
Gregorio said he realizes the work can’t be done by one man. And that’s why he’s set the tone of teamwork for the season. Anything is possible if everyone is on the same page and with Gregorio as chairman, the PBA is headed in the right direction.