PBA season nets over P200M

Kings-Bolts title series boosts gate receipts

LOS ANGELES – The Philippine Basketball Association breached the P200-million mark in total gate receipts in its 2016-17 season, gaining a three-percent increase from its sales in the previous season – mainly on the record attendance in the Ginebra-Meralco Governors Cup finale.

Through the Governors Cup semifinal round, the PBA was actually down by 19 percent from the previous season sale.

The number skyrocketed and broke the P200-million mark as the Barangay Ginebra Kings and the Meralco Bolts played before record crowds from Game 5 to 7 at the Philippine Arena.

The three games played in the cavernous playing venue in Bocaue, Bulacan drew a staggering attendance of 144,173 – 36,445 in Game Five, 53,642 in Game Six and 54,086.

If the average ticket prize was P250, the league could easily earn over P36 million in those three games alone.

There were no exact figures available as the outgoing chairman and the league commissioner failed to make the official report following the scrapping of the PBA board planning session here.

Incoming chairman Ramoncito Fernandez of NLEX, TNT KaTropa’s Patrick Gregorio, Rain or Shine’s Mert Mondragon and Phoenix Petroleum’s Raymond Zorrilla failed to make it to the annual meeting.

In a dinner hosted by Kia’s Bobby Rosales in the trendy Spagos restaurant Saturday, noshows were Alaska Milk’s Dickie Bachmann and Meralco’s Ryan Gregorio.

Those who missed the activity were Rosales, San Miguel Beer’s Robert Non, Ginebra’s Alfrancis Chua, Star’s Rene Pardo and GlobalPort’s Erick Arejola.

Blackwater’s Silliman Sy was the only one present in all activities.

The governors and the administration staff of the league led by commissioner Chito Narvasa are leaving Los Angeles today without resolving their dispute on the term of the league commissioner.