The Philippine Basketball Association is starting to recover its lost profits stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a report by league chairman Ricky Vargas, he disclosed that revenues earned by the league from its 47th season is coming close to the 2019-20 season.
“Yung PBA revenue growth is nearing the pre-pandemic revenues. It just goes to show that the PBA is slowly and surely getting back on track despite we had to cancel one conference,” said Vargas during the PBA Season 48 press conference held at Diamond Hotel on Tuesday.
“To cancel one conference, we needed the support of a lot of our advertisers and TV5. I’d like to thank TV5 for allowing us to cancel the conference for the Philippines,” he continued as the league will only hold two conferences this year due to the country’s hosting of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
During the Board of Governors’ annual meeting held in Paris, France early this year, it was concluded that the PBA needs to cope with the times.
The Board was able to pass two rules during their week-long stay there.
(c) PBA Images
“Pumunta kami ng Paris at hindi lang kami dun kumain at nagpasaya. We worked. It was there that we were able to develop a strategic plan,” he said.
“The PBA board decided on two things. One is to make it easier for the players to return to the league after their overseas campaigns and two, we made it easy for the players to enter the draft.”
Besides the easing of entry of new players, it was also decided by the board to expand the league’s membership.
According to the concurrent TNT Governor, the PBA is now open to adding two more teams that will join Ginebra San Miguel, Blackwater, Converge, Magnolia, Meralco, NLEX, Northport, Phoenix Super LPG, Rain or Shine, San Miguel, Terrafirma, and San Miguel.
“Now is the time for us to grow the PBA membership to two more teams. That’s our plan.”
Meanwhile, PBA commissioner Willie Marcial is also working hand in hand with the other top leagues in Asia, namely the B.League, the KBL, and the CBA.
“Second, our commissioner has been going on speaking engagements all over the world to strengthen our relationship with our Asian leagues,” said Vargas.
“The Philippines is the gold standard in leagues in the country and now we are the best in Asia for the next four years.”
