NBC, MVBA, Eala set to form Liga Filipina

by Noli Cortez
Malaya
October 13, 2007

Teams from the National Basketball Conference and Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association are closing ranks to form a regional super league to be called Liga Filipina.

Malaya learned yesterday that leaders of both regional leagues have tied up with former PBA commissioner Noli Eala to get the new super league off the ground early next year.

Eala, however, will not act as the league’s commissioner but as co-league owner. He was not available for comment at press time yesterday.

"Of the 16 teams being eyed for the super league, 10 have confirmed their participation," said an insider involved with the formation of the new league.

The new league is patterned after the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association and aimed to further strengthen the sport’s foundation in each team’s respective region.

The insider said a salary cap of P30,000 per player will be put in place in the super league to keep it viable.

The MBA was launched in 1994 but folded up in 1998, a victim of skyrocketing salaries as its organizers, led by ABS-CBN, lured established stars from the PBA with offers higher than what they were getting from the pro league. Despite efforts by ABS-CBN to keep the league going, it eventually went bankrupt, weighed down by salaries that had gone out of control.

The insider said organizers of the new league intend to keep salaries under control, adding the new league will tie up with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

The insider said the team owners of NBC and MVBA are convinced Eala would help the new super league reach new heights, as he did while he was commissioner of the PBA.

The pro league recovered from the doldrums and reached highs in both live gate attendance and television viewing and marketing under Eala’s watch.

"Eala can help professionalize the system and market the league to both the community level and commercial sponsors," the insider said.