PBA gains popularity abroad

MANILA, Philippines - The PBA’s popularity has extended towards foreign shores and the proof is at least three countries are offering to host games, Commissioner Chito Salud disclosed recently. Korea is first in the queue to stage a game in the Governors Cup which starts Aug. 14 and could stretch up to Oct. 25 assuming the twice-to-beat series, the best-of-five semifinals and the best-of-seven finals go the distance. Bahrain and Guam are also interested to host in the next season which opens Nov. 17.

Salud said the record attendance and TV viewership in the recent Commissioner’s Cup finals were clear indications that the PBA, now in its 38th year, is stronger than ever. Average attendance in the three-game finals between Alaska and Ginebra San Miguel went over 20,000 while in a critical 15-minute period of last Sunday’s title clincher, the PBA registered a TV audience rating of 9.2 percent equivalent to over 4 million viewers, topping the numbers of all rival networks.

Salud cited several factors that led to the resurgence of mass interest. “First, there is the players’ personal commitment to excellence and accountability,” he said. “They take their jobs seriously and accept wrongdoings on and off the court. The fans sense it and they trust and believe that our league is for real. Second, our outreach programs contribute a lot for two reasons – one, the people get to know more about our players and league and second, our players are exposed to fans from all walks of life. They learn to appreciate their own situation and as a result, they play harder and approach every game as a professional. They’ve become more dedicated players. Next, the TV production is excellent, the camera angles, commentators, stats, pre-game and post-game shows, the docu series and all the trappings and accouterments of a quality broadcast partner. It’s only our second year and ABC-5 has proved to be a model partner.”

Regarding the TV contract, Salud said a proposal will be made to the PBA on May 30. “We don’t know what will be presented but if there is a move to change stations, two conditions must be met – first, the new network must have an equivalent signal and reach as Channel 13 and second, there must be a commitment to air both of our games live,” he said. “The ratings of the recent finals were extremely encouraging. In the previous finals, we averaged an audience rating of 4 percent but in the Commissioner’s Cup, we went up to 6.4 with an audience share of 22.4 percent or about 3.5 million viewers. That’s a major jump.”

Salud said the arrival of exciting rookies like Calvin Abueva, Chris Tiu, Chris Ellis, Cliff Hodge and JuneMar Fajardo was another factor. “Rookies challenged the veterans to prove they’re still at the top of their game,” he said. “Everyone was out to perform to the best of their ability and it showed in the way every game was played. The PBA D-League prepared the rookies for the PBA as our main source of newcomers. If you’re 26 or less, you must go through at least two D-League conferences to be eligible for the draft. If you’re 27 or over, you’re exempted from the D-League and can go straight to the draft.”

Salud said on a scale of 1 to 10, he rated the referees’ performance in the Commissioner’s Cup an 8 1/2 up from 8 in the previous conference. “My grade for the referees is very good,” he said. “In the last seven conferences, we’ve picked only five to six referees for the finals. But in the Commissioner’s Cup, we had nine. I’ll admit that of the 15 referees in our roster, 10 were meted suspensions during the conference. The suspensions were for repeated lapses in judgment and for veering away from our officiating philosophy. Judgment calls are subjective but we still came down hard on some referees for not conforming to our guidelines. There were only two game-changing lapses that happened in the eliminations, one involving Rain Or Shine and the other Meralco. On the whole, the officiating was a notch higher in terms of quality over the previous conference.”

Salud said parity is now increasingly evident. “Slowly, our efforts in bringing a better balance of power are bearing fruit,” he said. “In the last eight conferences, seven different teams entered the Finals and eight different teams made it to the semifinals. I don’t label a team as coming from the San Miguel or the PLDT group. I view each team as an independently-run organization. I respect the identity of each PBA franchise.”

In managing the PBA’s affairs, Salud said he always keeps lines open to reach out to the team owners. “I rely heavily on the team owners’ wisdom and experience,” he said.