A new journey lies ahead for the NLEX Road Warriors
Four year old PBA franchise NLEX Road Warrriors unveiled a new logo that is inline with the entire Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, Monday afternoon at NLEX’s headquarters in Balintawak, Caloocan.
The need to rebrand the Manny V. Pangilinan-owned franchise came about after the subsidiaries of the MPTC did so early in the year.
“Yung Metro Pacific Tollways had a rebranding that took a lot of time before we came out with our new identity,” said NLEX alternate governor Rod Franco. “There were new logos for MPTC, for NLEX, for CaviTEX, for SCTEX, and all the members of the Metro Pacific group.
“We had to do that because we wanted to project to the market the complexity of our business and the capabilities that we have as a group.”
With the Road Warriors being the representatives of MPTC in the PBA, the group felt the need to repackage the Road Warriors as well.
“After we had to do that, as I keep telling you, our business includes the Road Warriors.
“The Road Warriors embody the MPTC and the MPTC embodies the Road Warriors. The NLEX Road Warriors is the representative of the entire MPTC family. So we had to rebrand it also,” furthered Franco.
Prior to the change in logo, the Road Warriors experienced numerous changes inside the team. It was sparked by the hiring of seven-time PBA champion coach Yeng Guiao. This was then followed by drastic trades and capped by the drafting of stalwart Kiefer Ravena.
“It’s really an honor to coach the NLEX team. Isang taon na po ang pinagdaan natin dito at napakahirap. This last draft, nakuha natin yung isang magaling na player, si Kiefer Ravena,” recalled Guiao.
“Pero bago natin siya nakuha, mahirap yung pinagdaan natin.”
After all the transactions and acquisitions they made, the Road Warriors will enter the 43rd season of the PBA with high expectations. But for Guiao, what matters most is that they make the MPTC group proud of them.
“We will make the MTPC group very proud of this team,” Guiao said.
“Sa ating mga supporters, we hope that every time that we play, we can show the values that embody this company.”