Sports: Deconstructing the PBA and its Road to Recovery

Friday, 09 December 2011 08:49

Written by Aaron Benedict De Leon

Ever since 1993, I’ve been a fan of the storied Purefoods franchise, a fan of the famous Patrimonio-Codinera tandem that ruled the All-Filipino Cup for many years. Even through the struggles of the franchise during the post-Patrimonio era, I still cheered on the team with a lineup led by Noy Castillo and Andy Seigle. The passion never wavered throughout those years, the same passion I share in watching PBA Games.

I may have gone out of my way to join various political and socio-civic endeavors, but I have always found time to watch the PBA, and well, just wish I would’ve been this gifted athletically the same way these players are. I even find time to watch PBA classics way beyond my birth years just to get a historical sense of the league. Nevertheless, I’ve always found the PBA as the legitimate national pastime of the country.

But the product has admittedly not been the same since the Crispa-Toyota years, where rivalries were so entrenched in our Filipino culture, and where superstars where seen as celebrities, more than entertainers. With the evolution of sports in the country, came the eventual decline of its popularity.

The first acid test came during the late 90’s, with the emergence of the MBA (Metropolitan Basketball Association), produced by ABS-CBN. The product was similar to the NBA, and it catered to regional battles between provinces and islands. During its first year, it was competing toe-to-toe with the PBA, with finals games in the PBA suffering a major loss amongst Basketball audiences because some people were more drawn in with the MBA. A year later, we saw a resurgence spurred by the advent of exciting Filipino foreigners led by Asi Taulava, Sonny Alvarado and Eric Menk. The PBA again became an exciting brand to watch, toppling the now defunct MBA, which lost steam after a strong beginning.

Players from the MBA began transferring to the PBA, and this age in professional Philippine basketball found itself looking forward to seeing the Romel Adducul’s, the Willie Miller’s and the Dondon Hontiveros’ don a PBA uniform. However, the sham involving certain Fil foreign players once again tainted the PBA’s image, as many were proven to have produced fake documents.

For many years, the PBA struggled to get good ratings and a stable TV coverer, transferring from Viva Vintage, to NBN, to TV5, to Solar, Studio 23 and now to AKTV. During Commissioner Eala’s time, heck, it even had to bring back the Crispa-Toyota oldies for a reunion game to re-energize the product which seemed to have lost steam during the mid 2000’s.You could get a good sense that the marketing of the product has suffered which can be attributed to many reasons.

During Commissioner Eala’s time, he tried to inject some synergy in the league with new promotions and gimmicks to bolster the league’s image, only to get involved in a situation that caused his disbarment, which translated to a loss of confidence from the PBA Board, ending his short lived tenure as PBA Commissioner.

The PBA has long sought a resurgence in popularity, and it has banked on a few figures to do so. Ginebra continues to be a popular team in the league, drawing a multitude of fans at the Araneta everytime they play. James Yap, and the BMEG boys also enjoy a significant following with good looking players and a charismatic star player.

Yet, only now, is the league experiencing quite a resurgence in the quality of play, and somehow in popularity. This can be attributed to the loyal fans who have never given up on their teams, and the product, and new fans excited to see competitive basketball.

Contributing to this newly found synergy in the league is the improvement of the performance of our National Team. A combination of both PBA and amateur players, Filipinos saw some glimmer hope in Philippine Basketball. And with the exodus of Smart Gilas National Players in this year’s draft, people were more excited to see the individual skills of these rookies pitted against the veterans of the league.

Commissioner Salud, 2 years into his office, has also done some reforms in the league, including amending lopsided trade deals, by regularly intervening in what seemed to be unfair deals between big and small market teams. He has also worked to increase the salary cap so that under the table concessions could be avoided. Most importantly, he has veered away from the traditional North and South game, which I find boring to watch, to have the Rookies, Sophomores and Juniors take on the Veterans for the next all star game.

Of course, capping the resurgence in following are the exciting games that we get to see night in and night out between the lower middle of the pack teams and the highly touted franchises.

True, the PBA may never recover the glory it once had during the Crispa-Toyota days, and it may never see another rivalry that intense and personal. Nevertheless, with a competent Commissioner, with its traditional and loyal fan base, with the exciting crop of players coming to the league and with good TV coverage, the PBA is coming back, and is coming back with a re-hashed brand that will Filipino basketball enthusiast will embrace and love back for a very long time.