BY BOBBY MOTUS
FOR more than a week I had been out of circulation and had gone with my family to Kalibo for some personal reasons. While there I opted to be internet- and newspaper-free to bond with relations from overseas and some parts of the country that also came for the same purpose.
Getting home the other day, I went through back issues of newspapers and aside from the Utah Jazz unexpectedly advancing to the semis of the WC playoffs, news on the upcoming second season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) caught my interest.
The MPBL, founded by our Pambansang Kamao, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, had a successful maiden season that had Batangas City winning the league’s first-ever crown over Muntinlupa City. Games were exclusively aired by ABS-CBN and, based on social media feedback, ratings were not bad.
Ratings would probably get better upon the proposed entry of expansion teams from Visayas and Mindanao when the second season opens on June 12. The Vis-Min area has a solid fan base and there are in fact a good number of Visayan-speaking players currently on the roster of Luzon teams, adding up to the viewership.
The league opened with Luzon-based teams, with the idea of adding teams from the southern part of the country the following season. Several teams from Cebu and Mindanao had signified their interest to join the second season but things at the moment had been iffy.
Initial plans revealed that there will only be one home game for the southern teams, with the rest of the games to be played in different Luzon localities because, as what league COO Zaldy Realubit said, there are conflicts with ABS-CBN’s schedule.
If the mother network can’t broadcast provincial games, let their regional broadcast networks do the thing. People probably are already dying to have an alternative to “Probinsyano” that a few MPBL regional games would be a welcome change. They can adapt what the NBA does: choose games to be aired on certain days. Besides, all the efforts of crime syndicates and politicians to eliminate Ador and Cardo always fail because the twins magically turn up alive every time.
If only to do justice to their province-mates and the Visayan-speaking regions, Senator Pacman, Realubit and MPBL Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes – all from Mindanao – should find ways and means to bring the games to the south.
A team has to pay a franchise fee of P10million, a conference fee of P200,000, and another P200,000 as bond. It would take an owner from the south of Lucio Tan or Henry Sy proportions to sustain a team to be in Manila for games at extended periods of time, aside from the P10.4-million initial capitalization. The logistics for salaries, accommodations, meals, transportation, and other incidentals would be enormous.
It was reported that games are open to the public. It would be beneficial for home teams to earn some revenue for the upkeep and maintenance of playing arenas. The league can give options to teams, especially those from the South, to require minimal gate fees to playing venues as it could greatly help with team expenses.
Then there’s the issue on fans. Let’s say a team from Iloilo plays 10 games in Manila and only one game in Iloilo, or maybe in Roxas. Surely the Iloilo game will be packed with fans, but what about the rest of the games held in Manila? It wouldn’t be fun and encouraging for players facing a hostile crowd every playing night. Just exactly how many Ilonggos are there to watch and root for an Iloilo team playing in Laguna or Cavite?
Duremdes and company could entertain the idea of a southern and northern conference. They hold their own regional eliminations and the top five of each conference advances to a 10-team, round-robin, home-and-away series. Top four teams then move on to the Final Four for another round-robin, where the top two teams battle for the title in a best-of-five series.
If the MPBL Season II opens with teams from the south and games would still be in Luzon, it defeats the league’s purpose of bringing the games nationwide. Even though they’re broadcasted live, it’s different when fans see the games on their home court. It would still be Manila-centric – yet about half of the players in the league trace their roots from the south.
What’s the point in calling it “Maharlika Pilipinas” if only fans from Luzon can watch it live, in the flesh? Maybe they can rename it as “Manny Pacquiao Basketball League.” It’s still MPBL anyway./PN
