Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 4) – The Philippine Basketball Association is mulling the possibility of expanding the number of teams to 14.
In a press conference on Wednesday, PBA chairman Ricky Vargas revealed the Board of Governors agreed during their recent planning session in Boracay to add two more teams in the future.
Vargas explained they approved such expansion after some companies expressed “strong” interest to join Asia’s first play-for-pay professional cage league.
“The board, we agreed that we should be on the lookout and look to expand to 14. There’s interest. There’s one team that’s strongly interested,” said Vargas.
Currently, the PBA has 12 teams. Newcomer Converge ICT Solutions Inc. bought the franchise of legendary ballclub Alaska Aces.
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The last time the PBA expanded its cast was in 2014, when they welcomed Blackwater and Kia (now Terrafirma) franchises in the league.
Vargas – the team governor of TNT Tropang Giga – said the expansion will also benefit PBA’s revenue collection which has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Expansion to 13 will be more difficult to manage. So, the board actually agreed that maybe, we should look at expanding to 14,” he added.
