THE PBA is out to match, if not surpass, the gains it posted last season as it looked forward to the league’s 49th season.
Filling the venues to the rafters remains the top priority and this means making the games more exciting and letting fans experience some things to remember.
The board of governors laid down plans on how to achieve this lofty goal during their annual planning session at the Swissotel Nankai Hotel in Osaka, Japan guided by data from the US media research group Nielsen which showed the PBA is still the most popular sports program in the country, with almost a million viewers tuning in for each game on average.
Newly-elected vice chairman Alfrancis Chua of Ginebra wants to have programs that will bring players closer to the fans inside the arenas.
“Like those in the upper box, ang mahal ng ibinayad nila sa pagpasok sa venue,” Chua said. “Then all they got ay kaway-kaway lang sa players.
“Kakausapin ko ang mga coaches, i-allow nila ang mga players lumapit sa fans,” he added.
While saying it’s easier said than done, league chairman Ricky Vargas of TNT, who was reelected to a seventh straight term–the longest in the PBA–is convinced they can hack it.
“The challenge is how to execute it,” Vargas said.
Pro league chief Willie Marcial was also reconfirmed for another three-year term.
Chua took over from Bobby Rosales of Terrafirma, while Atty. Ogie Narvasa is the new secretary and legal counsel.
Phoenix’s Atty. Raymond Zorrilla was retained as treasurer as the league intends to hit the ground running for its season-opening Governors’ Cup set on Aug. 18 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Aside from the new season, the PBA has also buckled down to work for its milestone golden anniversary in April next year.
The league has never been so busy than this time in recent years in a move seen to keep it alive amid the burgeoning cage tourneys locally and overseas.
