PBA earns P26M in banner season

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) enjoyed another banner year during its 2005-06 season as could be gleaned in gate receipts, attendance and television ratings.

PBA chairman Ely Capacio said that marked improvements in all three chief areas contributed to the expected increase in the league’s net income, while total revenues for the season may reach as high as P26 million.

" We are expecting that the net adjusted income of the PBA will more than double from last season," said Capacio barely a week after the league’s 31st season came to an end.

"Upon review of the current performance indicators and pending final accounting, we are projecting total revenues to grow by P26 million," he added.

Capacio noted that the increase in live attendance was the biggest contributing factor, having increased by about 74.13 percent in Metro Manila or from 423,701 to 737,782 — a jump of more than 314,000 people.

He said the average game attendance for the 2005-06 season was 6,647, an increase of about 63.15 percent from the 2004-05 season.

The outgoing chairman stressed the number of spectators this year is the highest since the 1997 season.

Also the loss of the Shell franchise hardly contributed to the reduced number of games. On the contrary, Capacio said the format initiated by the PBA still managed to increase the number of game days from 104 last season to 111 this year or 6.73 percent increase which contributed to the increase in gate receipts and attendance.

Out of the total number of games played, the PBA was able to stage 67 game days at the Araneta Coliseum.

Meanwhile, gate receipts in Metro Manila also jumped by about 14.34 percent for the 2005-06 season from the previous year.

TV coveror ABC-5 has yet to submit its complete report for the season, but Capacio said TV ratings grew modestly. The playoffs, according to him, provided major breakthroughs that boosted the overall TV ratings.

The do-or-die game (June 11) between PBA Ginebra and Red Bull for the last finals slot in the 2005-06 Fiesta Conference registered one of the highest for the second conference at 10.8 percent ratings.

Capacio attributed the league’s big turnaround to the policies and programs initiated by the Board of Governors and implemented by the Office of the Commissioner.

"The league was able to rebound from uncertainty to stability and eventually to growth," said the PBA chairman.

Other specific details duly noted in the report were 101 firms/companies that signed up as sponsors this season either as a major or minor marketing partners, the holding of PBA games in three new provincial markets, namely Tubod, Lanao del Norte, Cabagan, Isabela and San Fernando, La Union and one international game in Hong Kong.

Aggressive marketing campaigns, gimmicks, ads and promotions and ticket sales program, including the highly successful Gimme 5 promo, were also mentioned by Capacio to have contributed to the league’s success.