Thursday, March 13, 2008 P10 million league By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE Basketball Association of the Philippines-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) launched an ambitious basketball project aiming to bring together the best teams all over the country and to determine the best among the best.
BAP-SBP officials, led by president Manny Pangilinan, vice chairperson Ricky Vargas and executive director Patrick Gregorio, together with Philippine Collegiate Championship Games (PCCG) project chairman Rey Gamboa led the launching of the PCCG yesterday.
The endeavor, which is national in scope, is expected to gobble up a whooping P10 million budget.
More than 250 collegiate teams from nine regions will take part in the competition that involves more than 5,000 players, coaches and referees competing in a span of seven months before they could make it to the final round in December.
“This is a huge venture for BAP-SBP. But our efforts are not merely to put up a basketball competition, but we are aiming for something deeper,” Gamboa said.
Gamboa said they want the teams to aim not only for a title in their circle but also for for a national crown and gauge their teams’ skills against stronger rivals.
“If they aim higher, it will improve their level of competition,” said Gamboa.
The league also aims to develop and promote collegiate basketball by providing schools participating in various leagues with a broader and competitive environment and appropriate public and media exposure.
“We encourage cross fertilization where we provide exposure for provincial teams to play Manila teams or against teams that are better than the teams within their league,” Gamboa added.
Before, the Philippine Collegiate Champions League only gave slots to the national finals to the winners in some of the country’s major leagues.
This time, it becomes more systematic as everyone, including those that are not members of any league, will have their chances of making it to the national finals.
The first phase of the competition will be regular competition of the different collegiate leagues and in Cebu’s case, the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc.
The top four from these mother leagues will move on to the regionals. Organizers divided the country into nine regions, grouping provinces according to proximity. The nine regional champions will then play in the zonals, before the final phase.
Apart from the bragging rights, the competition also dangles enormous cash prizes that will have any team work their hearts out to win.
The national champion will get P500,000, while the next three teams will get P200,00, P100,000 and P50,000, respectively. Apart from this, the winners in the regional competition will also get corresponding cash prizes.
“This money should be used by schools in expanding their sports scholarship programs, so that more athletes can get education as well,” Gamboa said.
