It's 'high time' for NBA.com Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - Perhaps the most sensible question asked during the grand preview was why it took the NBA so long to put up a website designed specifically for the Philippine market.

For so long, the NBA.com has served as a beehive for basketball-crazy Filipinos, who ranked second in the world among NBA followers on Twitter, just behind the United States.

On Facebook, there are 1.1 million fans from the Philippines, also second only to the US. In February of 2012 alone, NBA.com attracted four million visitors and 56 million page views from Filipinos.

Numbers don’t lie.

“So, why only now? Because the most important thing for us, for the NBA, is to find the right partners,” said NBA Asia’s country manager for the Philippines, Carlo Singson.

“It took us a while to find the right partners. The NBA doesn’t just do things because there’s an opportunity. We need the right partners,” he said Friday evening.

During the grand preview, held at the spacious SMEC Convention Center in Mall of Asia, the NBA introduced “the right partners” for NBA.com Philippines.

They are Philstar.com, the online version of The Philippine STAR, and X-Play Online Games, Inc., the casual gaming subsidiary of Philippine online publisher IP e-Game Ventures. Inc.

In a video message, NBA commissioner David Stern greeted the newest NBA partners.

“This is a new website where you can follow all the NBA players and teams. This provides the NBA new business partners. Enjoy NBA.com Philippines,” said Stern.

Luc Longley, who won three championships with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, spiced up the glittery affair, and on stage he gamely put on a Philippine jacket.

The emcees looked up to the 7-foot-2 Longley. He was asked to draw a winner for the raffle portion, but his hand was so big it almost didn’t fit into the fish bowl.

So far, Longley is enjoying his stay in the Philippines, and hoped that the next few days would even be more enjoyable.

He was asked what he knew about the Philippines.

“I really had no idea. I thought no one here really knows who I am until I stepped off the plane and the security guard said, ‘Hello Luc.’ So, I knew I was in the right place,” Longley said.

“It’s a real honor to be chosen as partner of the NBA in the Philippines. It’s a real honor. It’s high time the NBA did a site for the Philippines,” said Belmonte.

“The Philippines is the third largest market for NBA.com after the United States and China, with 56 million monthly views from the Philippines alone. That’s a huge figure. So, isn’t it high time? It is high time,” added Belmonte, who lived in Chicago for many years, making him a die-hard Bulls fan.

At one point during the open forum it was asked whether the NBA is open to transgenders as much as the Ms. Universe pageant said it was.

“As long as they can play basketball,” was the answer.

A question was also posed when Michael Jordan is coming over to the Philippines.

“We’ll give him a call tonight and see if he wants to come,” said Singson.

Also present during the preview were Francesco Suarez (NBA Asia VP-global marketing partnership), Sheila Rasu (NBA Asia marketing communications director), Dan Rosen (NBA Asia director-digital), Enrique Gonzalez (CEO, IP Ventures, Inc.) and Tomoi Kouchi (NBA Asia manager-digital).

“This is a great endeavor. We love basketball. We love this game. We love the NBA. And we have the passion. With the NBA and Philstar.com, we can do something great,” said Gonzalez.

“We also look forward to our partnership,” the president of Philstar.com said.