The PBA has been full of tradition in its first 41 years, with all of the great teams of the past and the present leaving behind legacies.
Iconic squads like Crispa and Toyota made the league what it is today, becoming the standards of what teams should be. Their players started it all, and whatever anyone says that those teams’ superstars went on to take their acts to other sides, the likes of Mon Fernandez and Robert Jaworski and Atoy Co and Philip Cezar will forever be identified with Toyota and Crispa, respectively.
Which brings this corner to share one developing story that will surely rock the league in the days to come.
Let’s not name the team for the time being because of the sensitivity of the issue, though what we can say is that one glamorous, powerhouse side that is owned by one of the two dominant business groups in the PBA is up for sale.
Its company is doing well in its line of business, make no mistake about it, but the tycoon who owns a total of three teams in the league has apparently decided to give up one of his franchises and will continue to just maintain the remaining two — which command equal following.
This team has a very rich winning history in the PBA and has produced some of the most glamorous players ever.
This team already has its place in the league’s history books as an immortal — much like Crispa — but has been on a tailspin of late after one of the most dominant seasons ever that took place quite recently.
Its participation in the PBA can has been nothing short of phenomenal ever since it made its debut more than 20 seasons ago. At that time, despite being very young, this team already became a force in the league.
The business tycoon has reportedly gotten offers from several big corporations, who are interested in the franchise because it has a very solid foundation with a local lineup that is loaded with talent.
PBA franchises, like what NLEX did in buying the Air21 franchise, can run up to more than P100 million depending on what is left of the team upon purchase.
If this team is sold lock, stock and barrel, it could run up to a record amount when the sale is concluded.
***
Papers here have refused to break the news because no one can confirm it, but it gathered steam as far as this corner is concerned when we learned that this team’s foremost star, a winner of the MVP award, is now up for trade.
Let us also not name the player for the moment, because management will surely deny this, again, because of the sensitivity of the issue.
But this, like any disbanding team, is a common practice so that the owner of the old franchise can get something from the team’s stars by giving them away in trades while leaving the potential buyer of the franchise holding a practically empty bag.
This player is definitely a marketing gem, but has obviously been a step or two slower this season.
The latest is that the team that is reportedly being sold, has asked some of the traditional powerhouses in the league to get this player in a trade but has found no takers so far.
The reason: player commands such a high salary and is being seen by most coaches as someone who has already seen better — read MVP — days.
Arab News gathered from a highly-placed source that the said player was actually being offered to one of the two expansion teams — either Blackwater or Mahindra — which politely turned down the offer to finally sign a marquee name because the owner of the expansion squad feels that the player is not worth his price tag anymore.
And like we have said above, this player, no matter where he goes and ends his career, will forever be remembered as having played for the team that’s about to be sold.
The new team will just be a footnote in his career.
***
The team that is being sold has several more stars in its roster and the highly-placed Arab News source said that the two teams that will be left in this tycoon’s stable of PBA squads will be the destinations of the other stars.
Trades will happen in the coming weeks so as to prepare the team for selling.
And since sister teams cannot directly trade players with each other, conduit teams will be used to consummate these transactions.
It will be very interesting in the next few weeks when this starts, although it could happen during the off-season since the current Governors’ Cup will only run until the middle of October.
And when it happens, the PBA will again see off one franchise which truly helped define the league and will forever be mentioned in the same breath as the great ones like Crispa and Toyota.
Iconic squads like Crispa and Toyota made the league what it is today, becoming the standards of what teams should be. Their players started it all, and whatever anyone says that those teams’ superstars went on to take their acts to other sides, the likes of Mon Fernandez and Robert Jaworski and Atoy Co and Philip Cezar will forever be identified with Toyota and Crispa, respectively.
Which brings this corner to share one developing story that will surely rock the league in the days to come.
Let’s not name the team for the time being because of the sensitivity of the issue, though what we can say is that one glamorous, powerhouse side that is owned by one of the two dominant business groups in the PBA is up for sale.
Its company is doing well in its line of business, make no mistake about it, but the tycoon who owns a total of three teams in the league has apparently decided to give up one of his franchises and will continue to just maintain the remaining two — which command equal following.
This team has a very rich winning history in the PBA and has produced some of the most glamorous players ever.
This team already has its place in the league’s history books as an immortal — much like Crispa — but has been on a tailspin of late after one of the most dominant seasons ever that took place quite recently.
Its participation in the PBA can has been nothing short of phenomenal ever since it made its debut more than 20 seasons ago. At that time, despite being very young, this team already became a force in the league.
The business tycoon has reportedly gotten offers from several big corporations, who are interested in the franchise because it has a very solid foundation with a local lineup that is loaded with talent.
PBA franchises, like what NLEX did in buying the Air21 franchise, can run up to more than P100 million depending on what is left of the team upon purchase.
If this team is sold lock, stock and barrel, it could run up to a record amount when the sale is concluded.
***
Papers here have refused to break the news because no one can confirm it, but it gathered steam as far as this corner is concerned when we learned that this team’s foremost star, a winner of the MVP award, is now up for trade.
Let us also not name the player for the moment, because management will surely deny this, again, because of the sensitivity of the issue.
But this, like any disbanding team, is a common practice so that the owner of the old franchise can get something from the team’s stars by giving them away in trades while leaving the potential buyer of the franchise holding a practically empty bag.
This player is definitely a marketing gem, but has obviously been a step or two slower this season.
The latest is that the team that is reportedly being sold, has asked some of the traditional powerhouses in the league to get this player in a trade but has found no takers so far.
The reason: player commands such a high salary and is being seen by most coaches as someone who has already seen better — read MVP — days.
Arab News gathered from a highly-placed source that the said player was actually being offered to one of the two expansion teams — either Blackwater or Mahindra — which politely turned down the offer to finally sign a marquee name because the owner of the expansion squad feels that the player is not worth his price tag anymore.
And like we have said above, this player, no matter where he goes and ends his career, will forever be remembered as having played for the team that’s about to be sold.
The new team will just be a footnote in his career.
***
The team that is being sold has several more stars in its roster and the highly-placed Arab News source said that the two teams that will be left in this tycoon’s stable of PBA squads will be the destinations of the other stars.
Trades will happen in the coming weeks so as to prepare the team for selling.
And since sister teams cannot directly trade players with each other, conduit teams will be used to consummate these transactions.
It will be very interesting in the next few weeks when this starts, although it could happen during the off-season since the current Governors’ Cup will only run until the middle of October.
And when it happens, the PBA will again see off one franchise which truly helped define the league and will forever be mentioned in the same breath as the great ones like Crispa and Toyota.
