SPORTING CHANCE By Joaquin M. Henson | Philippine Star
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Former PBA commissioner Noli Eala has a plateful of things to do now that he’s the captain of the good ship Third Force.
Since leaving the PBA, Eala never expected to be this busy. But he’s not complaining. If there’s such a thing, Eala is pleasantly harassed.
Aside from attending to his sports projects, Eala is attending to his flourishing food store – ”Bread All Day” – in front of Mt. Carmel Church along Broadway Avenue and a flower shop called “Blooms in Breezes.” He’s also working on upgrading a family-owned resort in Los Baños.
Then, there’s the big triple world championship boxing card in Dubai he’s staging on April 18.
At the moment, Eala said he’s putting the finishing touches on Liga Pilipinas which is envisioned to be a home-and-away circuit, like the defunct MBA, with teams all over the country.
“There are 26 applicants for franchises and we’ll screen them down to 16 which is the number we’re looking at for our first season,” said Eala. “The deadline for the submission of applications is March 5 then we’ll decide the teams by March 15. By April 15, we’ll finalize the lineups and by April 29, we’ll get the show on the road.”
Eala said the league will not include a Metro Manila team.
“We’ll limit each team to two ex-pros in our first year and one in our second year because we aim to be developmental,” explained Eala. “But a team will be allowed to go over the limit if the ex-pros are included in the maximum of eight homegrown players in a 14-man lineup. Homegrown players are defined as those who were born in the place hosting the team, those who live there and those who trace lineage to the place.”
Eala said Fil-Ams are welcome in Liga Pilipinas and he plans a dispersal draft to give each team a crack at the pool.
“We’re playing strictly FIBA rules and in the playoffs, we intend to bring in two FIBA referees from overseas,” he continued. “We’re scheduling 175 games in a conference, more than in the PBA, and 380 games in a season. We’ll run two conferences of four months each. We’ll do quadruple headers four playing days a week so we’ll be extremely busy.”
Eala said he is in the process of negotiating a TV contract for the league.
“We’re meeting with three networks,” he disclosed. “We’ll probably sign up one network for games in the North and another network for games in the South. When the playoffs come around, we’ll work out a distribution arrangement. The league will maintain two headquarters, one in Manila and another in Cebu.”
So far, Eala said he has been able to locate sponsors pledging P12 million to support the league.
“The upside is tremendous,” said Eala. “We’ve got interested parties in Cebu, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, General Santos City, Tacloban, Tagbilaran City, Tagaytay, Batangas, Baguio City, Ilocos Sur, Pampanga, Taguig and many more. Henkel-Sista is thinking of adopting Taguig. Mayor Bautista is taking care of Baguio. Gil Cortez is coordinating Pampanga. The league has enormous potential.”
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
La Liga opens April 29
By Joel Orellana | Business Mirror
February 25, 2008
THE Basketball Association of the Philippines-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) is launching in April the Liga Pilipinas, a league that will feature teams from local government units.
The BAP-SBP has tentatively set April 29 as the opening of the tournament, which will be handled by former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Noli Eala.
BAP-SBP executive director Patrick Gregorio said they expect as many as 16 teams to join the tournament.
“A lot of provinces are signifying their intentions to join like Cebu wants to field two teams and Ilocos Sur, Pampanga and Baguio are very keen on forming their team,” said Gregorio.
“In fact, our BAP-SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan is also mulling to bankroll the Pampanga squad because he’s a Capampangan. Marami ngang naiinggit sa Pampanga because MVP is supporting the team,” he added.
The Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association and National Basketball Confederation have merged to form the core of the new basketball league.
Gregorio said they intend to discover new talent from the countryside through the Liga Pilipinas in as much the same way as what the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) did.
“The BAP-SBP believes that there are still many talents na hindi pa natin nata-tap. And this is the primary goal of this league—maghanap ng magagaling na basketball players sa buong bansa and provide them the experience they need through this Liga Pilipinas,” said Gregorio.
The BAP-SBP, Gregorio clarified, will not be competing with the PBA. In 1998 the MBA was formed through the backing of television giant ABS-CBN but folded up four years later because of funding woes.
February 25, 2008
THE Basketball Association of the Philippines-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) is launching in April the Liga Pilipinas, a league that will feature teams from local government units.
The BAP-SBP has tentatively set April 29 as the opening of the tournament, which will be handled by former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Noli Eala.
BAP-SBP executive director Patrick Gregorio said they expect as many as 16 teams to join the tournament.
“A lot of provinces are signifying their intentions to join like Cebu wants to field two teams and Ilocos Sur, Pampanga and Baguio are very keen on forming their team,” said Gregorio.
“In fact, our BAP-SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan is also mulling to bankroll the Pampanga squad because he’s a Capampangan. Marami ngang naiinggit sa Pampanga because MVP is supporting the team,” he added.
The Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association and National Basketball Confederation have merged to form the core of the new basketball league.
Gregorio said they intend to discover new talent from the countryside through the Liga Pilipinas in as much the same way as what the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) did.
“The BAP-SBP believes that there are still many talents na hindi pa natin nata-tap. And this is the primary goal of this league—maghanap ng magagaling na basketball players sa buong bansa and provide them the experience they need through this Liga Pilipinas,” said Gregorio.
The BAP-SBP, Gregorio clarified, will not be competing with the PBA. In 1998 the MBA was formed through the backing of television giant ABS-CBN but folded up four years later because of funding woes.
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