The PBA has to bring back sports to the league. Big Business can bring it down, if it has not done so yet.
This is where the intense rivalry of the two business empires in basketball showed up again.
The trade involving Standhardinger is generally considered by PBA sportswriters and fans as a lopsided deal that favored San Miguel. PBA Commissioner Chito Narvasa’s approval of the deal had apparently displeased the management of the MPIC teams. The governors of TNT Katropa, Meralco, and NLEX , and those of four other teams issued a statement that they are not in favor of renewing the contract of Narvasa for Season 43 for loss of confidence in him. However, the governors of San Miguel, Ginebra, Purefoods, and of two other teams gave Narvasa their vote of confidence.
According to PBA rules, eight votes are necessary to name a new commissioner. As only seven governors want Narvasa to be replaced, he remains as PBA commissioner. But with a majority of governors not having confidence in him, he will be ineffective in regulating the league. Narvasa will be a lame duck commissioner, if the PBA survives to have another season.
Today is supposed to be the start of the annual planning meeting of the PBA board of governors in Los Angeles but from all indications, there will be no meeting at all. Pato Gregorio of TNT KaTropa, Mamerto Mondragon of Rain or Shine, and Raymund Zorilla of Phoenix Petroleum, who were all supposed to have flown to LA last Friday to attend the meeting, decided to stay home. Ramoncito Fernandez of NLEX, the incoming chair of the PBA, is scheduled to leave today for LA but is reportedly not leaving anymore.
With the new chairman and three other governors skipping the meeting, the planning meeting has been canceled. The planning meeting usually determines the formats of the three conferences and the schedule of the games for the entire season. As there is no indication that there will be a meeting soon, or that there will be one at all, PBA’s Season 43 is now an uncertainty.
I find it odd that the MPIC group had made a big issue out of the Standhardinger trade when two seasons ago TNT had obtained the No.1 and No. 2 picks through trades with cellar dweller teams Blackwater and Mahindra/ Kia, respectively.
TNT used its right to Pick No. 1 in the 2015 Rookie Draft to get TauTuaa and traded with Mahindra’s Troy Rosario, the No. 2 pick in the same draft. Many PBA fans thought that giant TNT took advantage of the teams still trying to get settled in the league.
I wrote back in 2009 that Burger King would be a PBA powerhouse if team owner Bert Lina were not engaging in the trading of players like they were commodities. His original PBA team, Fedex, had the No. 1 and No. 8 draft picks in its first year and chose Yancy de Ocampo and Ren Ren Ritualo who both ended up playing for TNT.
In subsequent years, Fedex/ Air 21 drafted Jay Washington, MacMac Cardona, and Ranidel de Ocampo. It sent by express delivery Washington and Cardona to TNT before the prize draftees could play one game for Air 21. Ranidel eventually also joined TNT. It gave the impression that the Lina team was a farm team of business client TNT.
The PBA has to bring back sports to the league. Big Business can bring it down, if it has not done so yet.