PBA board returns content from meeting

By Musong R. Castillo
Inquirer
Last updated 04:58am (Mla time) 09/29/2007

MACAU--The members of the PBA board of governors left this gambling haven on Friday smiling -- not only because most of them won at the tables -- but after they had successfully accomplished what they set out to do here.

“There were some items that were not decided upon,” said chairman Tony Chua of Red Bull. “But there were a lot of things that we were able to finish and this means that the PBA is headed in the right direction.”

The return to a three-conference format, the rules of play that will govern the Invitational Cup next year, and the start of negotiations with ABC5 as the official television network were deferred for a later date.

But the conversion of the league from an association to a corporation will start on Monday, new rules for the coming Philippine Cup will be applied, the selection committee for the new commissioner has been formed, and the pursuit of the league’s own dome was decided.

“Not all of the governors were here, but we can safely say we are all on the same page,” Chua added. “Our agreement to pass them in principle ranges from 80 to 90 percent.”

Air21’s Lito Alvarez and Talk ‘N Text’s Ricky Vargas joined Chua, Alaska’s Joaqui Trillo and Ginebra’s Robert Non in the five-man committee that will come up with the criteria the next commissioner must meet.

The governors will meet anew in two weeks for an update from a hired group that will make a feasibility study on the pros and cons of turning the PBA into a corporation, a vital decision since the personality of the new commissioner will depend highly on what structure the PBA will take.

If the league turns into a corporation, it will then hire a president and a chief operating officer with powers different from the commissioner, who will be tasked to oversee the technical issues of the game.