Poor gate turnout dampens PBA gain

TOKYO – For all its impressive numbers which boosted its image and earnings last year, the Philippine Basketball Association still needs to address its poor performance at the gate for its coming 41st season.

The PBA board of governors, in its annual meeting in Tokyo Hilton here, hinted at re-adjusting the schedule of the games, in-between conference breaks and the entire season that would make it more appealing to the fans.

 The league officials identified other specific matters, determined to keep the PBA a dynamic and vibrant league that Filipino fans will be proud of going to PBA Season 41 starting Oct. 18.

“We reported to the board the performance of the league last season. Revenue-wise, combined both the PBA and PBA Properties, there was an overall growth of three percent. But while the sponsorship aspect increased, the mix of the growth is not good because the core business of the PBA which is really gate attendance and gate receipts are down,” said Chito Salud, the former league commissioner who is now functioning as PBA president/chief executive officer.

Although the PBA hit the P200-million mark for the second straight season, the local pro league was concerned more on the poor gate attendance and gate sales, which went down by 10 percent and 18 percent, respectively, from the previous year.

PBA Season 39 was a monstrous hit with the league earning P248 million in gate receipts.

“There are aspects that we want to take a closer look at and report to the board during the next board meeting to see how we can address the current situation,” Salud said.

The competitive imbalance brought about by the league’s expansion into 12 teams was also cited as reason.

“We want our expansion teams to become more competitive, to prevent predictability in the games, to make the games they’re involved in more exciting,” said returning PBA board chairman Robert Non.

The playing venues were also mentioned for the decline of the fans’ turnout.

“We want to avoid playing in smaller venues, meaning venues outside of Smart Araneta Coliseum or the MOA Arena because the capacity and convenience of those venues have an impact on the gate attendance,” said Salud.

The PBA officials also felt the schedules had a huge impact on gate attendance.

“We want to study the impact of the extra game day that was introduced this season. We came from a four-game day week to five-game day week, that extra game day being Tuesday. We want to study the impact of that extra game day because we understand that our industry is market driven and there could be some budget constraints involved with respect to our fans,” said Salud.

“We also want to study and see the impact of the schedule of our games, meaning the 4:15 p.m. start and then the 45-minute break and the 7:15 p.m. tip-off for the second game. That is also something new for this season,” Salud also said.

Lastly, he mentioned the compressed season and the short breaks of the league – adjustments made in support of Gilas Pilipinas’ training for international meets.

“The normal breaks between conferences in the past before our total involvement with the national team is between 15 to 20 days. This season we averaged in-between conference break of maybe four days. So, there could be an element of ‘sawa’ and fatigue on the part of our fans,” he pointed out.

The other PBA officials attending are new PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa, immediate past chair Patrick Gregorio, vice chair Erick Arejola and governors Al Panlilio of Meralco, Ramoncito Fernandez of NLEX, Al Chua of Ginebra, Rene Pardo of Star Hotshots, Manny Alvarez of Barako Bull, Mert Mondragon of Rain or Shine, Dickie Bachmann of Alaska, Tom Alvarez of Kia and Wilbert Loa of Blackwater.