The Games and Amusement board of the Philippines has been talking with the officials of the Maharlika Pilipinas League (MPBL) to convince the latter to elevate the status of its league from an amateur to a professional one.
But the MPBL is lukewarm to the idea considering that turning to a professional league entails major adjustments. In this article, we analyze what are the advantages and disadvantages of an amateur compared to a professional league.
The GAB and its Mandate
By virtue of Executive Order (EO) 392 series of 1951, the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) was created for the purpose of regulating and supervising professional sports, amusement games, and all activities related therewith. Pursuant thereto, it shall promote and maintain honest and fair conduct of games to protect the betting public. It also aims to grants licenses in professional sports to make a stable base for revenue generation.
Specifically, the GAB has the following functions. First, it is empowered to enforce laws related to the conduct of all professional sports. Second, it issues licenses to qualified sports practitioners and permits for the holding of professional sports contests and competitions. Third, the GAB develops and enforces guidelines and policies to police the conduct of professional athletes. Fourth, it can also examine the books of professional sports leagues to avoid any fraudulent activities that are detrimental to the public’s interest. Lastly and more importantly, the GAB is mainly responsible for the eradication of illegal gambling or bookies in professional sports and games.
GAB regulates professional basketball
On January 6, 1976, President Ferdinand E. Marco promulgated Presidential Decree (PD) 871 entitled “Placing Professional Basketball Games and Other Professional Games Under the Supervision and Regulation of the Games and Amusement Boards”.
Under its regulatory powers granted by the foregoing PD, the GAB is empowered to prescribe and enforce rules, laws, decrees, executive orders, or regulations covering the conduct of professional basketball games. Included in such power is the right to disapprove any rules and to even suspend games which are not compliant with the foregoing regulations.
Furthermore, the GAB was also given the authority to hear and decide controversies or disputes stemming from any professional game under its supervision. Related therewith, it can assign any of its officers to handle the hearing or investigation. It can also issue summons and subpoenas to compel the parties to appear or to produce the necessary documents for the resolution of the disputes.
Meanwhile, the GAB has supervisory powers over all officials, employees and persons affiliated with any professional basketball games. Such power is exercised by issuing licenses or permits and collecting fees therefrom. It can also revoke or suspend the said permits if it finds any violations of the relevant laws, rules, or regulations.
Basically, PD 871 makes it unlawful for any person, entity or association to hold professional basketball games without a permit, duly granted by the GAB, which shall indicate the name of the person or association to whom the permit is issued, the venue, and date of the professional basketball event. Likewise, the same law prohibits the employment of any player, referee, scorer, timekeeper, or other persons connected with the holding of a professional basketball game unless they are duly issued by the GAB a license which must be renewed annually.
GAB regulation entails costs
Government regulation of professional basketball certainly entails costs. Thus, in order to defray the expenses of the GAB in supervising and regulating professional sports, it collects fees for the licenses and permits that it issues to any person or association involved in such professional activity.
The GAB slaps a team fee of P10,100.00 per year and another P1,500 for each change in the team name. In addition, it also imposes annual license fees on professionals working with a professional league such as the league commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Executive director, Technical Supervisor, Promoter, Team Manager, Assistant Team Manager, Coach, Assistant Coach, Team Consultant, Player’s manager, Referee, Player, Physician, Trainer, Liason Officer, Team Therapist, Scorer/Statistician, Game Table Official, Game Announcer, Utility, and Masseur. Below is a table of the most updated fees based on GAB’s official website.
The amount of the fees appears small but if you add them up, they will eventually pile up. For instance, an MPBL regular season has 465 games. Multiplied by P800 permit fee per game, the MPBL will need to shell out P372,000 per regular season. It might be a small amount for a well-established league, but for a startup tournament such as the MPBL, such money is significant enough to impact its long-term viability.
Likewise, the permits and license fees will also add burden to fledgling team owners. Unlike the PBA whose teams are backed up by large conglomerates such as San Miguel Corporation, MPBL teams are sponsored mostly by Small and Medium Enterprises who do not have a deep pocket similar to their PBA peers. Hence, a lot of MPBL squad may find it financially difficult to comply with GAB requirements.
GAB gets a cut from ticket sales and television/radio revenues
By law, the GAB is entitled to collect 3% of the gross gate receipts and income from television, radio, and motion picture rights if there are any. This means that if the MPBL becomes a professional league under the roof of the GAB, the former must set aside 3% from the revenues it earns from its broadcast deal with ABS-CBN S+A.
Again, 3% appears to be miniscule but if a TV deal is worth hundreds of millions, it becomes material. Take for example the broadcast deal between the Philippine Basketball Association and TV 5 back in 2015. It was reported that the said deal was worth P900 million for a period of 5 years.
Hence, 3% of such amount is around P27 million for a period of five years or roughly P5.4 million a year, an amount which is nothing to scoff at. The MPBL could use such amount to improve its operations rather than pay it to the GAB. Perhaps this is the biggest reason why the MPBL does not want to become a professional league yet.
There will be exodus of college players
Aside from financial considerations, the MPBL might face an exodus of college standouts should it transform into a professional league. This is because college tournaments, especially the UAAP and the NCAA, prohibits athletes who played professionally from participating again in their respective leagues. Thus, a college player who wants to play in the MPBL if ever it becomes a professional league, will have to waive their eligibility to play in their college league.
Take for instance the case of Larry Muyang who was a key player for the San Juan Knights during their championship run in the Datu Cup. After the NCAA season ended last year, Muyang joined an already stacked San Juan Knights Team where he was able to earn a championship ring.
After his stint with the Knights, he returned to the NCAA this 2019 season and will again return to the MPBL after the current season ends this November.
If the MPBL was already a professional league last year, Muyang will certainly be barred from returning into the NCAA. That would have been unfortunate for the young Muyang as he will definitely miss the trainings he can get from playing in the NCAA.
It is a win-win situation for both the MPBL and the college players if the league remains an amateur one. This way, college athletes can get the best of both worlds. In the MPBL, they will compete with seasoned veterans including former PBA players who can give them valuable lessons or tips. Armed with the said learnings, they can apply what they have learned from the MPBL during their games in the collegiate leagues, thus boosting their confidence.
Too much regulation may stifle the growth of the MPBL
As mentioned above, the GAB is responsible for regulating professional sports activities by issuing licenses to professional leagues and athletes. As we all know, the government is not the most efficient entity when it comes to enforcement and regulations. We have experienced too much red tape from opening a business down to the simple tasks such as getting drivers licenses.
Thus, it could become too cumbersome for the MPBL to operate its tournament and therefore its ability to expand will be severely limited in several aspects.
It would be in the interest of the MPBL if it remains an amateur league. It needs to strengthen first its operations and stabilize its financial viability before it even considers going professional. As they say, haste makes waste. The MPBL should take it one step at a time, otherwise it might suffer the same fate as its predecessor Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA).
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