Is the PBA D League Doomed?

IT'S saddening to hear that the PBA D League is slowly becoming obsolete in the Philippine basketball landscape.

Although I now live in California, social media and news from the internet keep me informed especially about basketball which I used to cover a lot during my days as a sportswriter back in the Philippines.

Only six teams are currently competing in the D League's newest conference, the Foundation Cup -- the fewest ever since the league began in 2011 to replace the defunct Philippine Basketball League.

I remember that 14 teams were part of the original cast of the D League when it started, including NLEX, Blackwater, Cafe France, Cebuana Lhuillier, Big Chill, Maynilad, Junior Powerade, Max Bond, Pacific Pipes, PC Gilmore and Cobra Energy Drink.

NLEX and Blackwater later became PBA franchises while other teams made their way into the D League as it rolled along, including Hapee Toothpaste, Cagayan Valley, Cignal and Flying V.

But lately, public interest in the D League is starting to wane. Let's examine the reasons:

1. Lack of teams. The D League attracted just six squads because many of the teams went on a leave of absence. In the last Aspirants Cup, most of the teams were school-based, a policy the league has imposed since the PBL days. When the school teams decided to concentrate on their respective college leagues, the sponsor was left with no choice but to pull out because looking for replacement players is difficult. School-based teams are easier to maintain because the players are available and all of them are still amateurs.

2. Lack of marketing. This is where the PBA needs to improve. Since Rhose Montreal left the PBA as its marketing head, commissioner Willie Marcial has yet to find someone with the savvy to attract the D League to prospective sponsors. Although admission in the games is free, crowds are still lean because there are no players who have the appeal to attract people to watch the games. Also, most games are centered in Metro Manila especially the Ynares Arena in Pasig. There was a time when the D League staged its semis and finals games in Cavite and Laguna but still, no good crowds.

3. Television coverage. This is very crucial when it comes to the success or failure of a basketball league. Ever since it started, games in the D League haven't been shown live and at present, the games are aired on primetime starting 8 pm over Aksyon TV -- a channel that has limited range for those with free TV because it is on Channel 41. The delayed telecast is because the PBA doesn't have enough budget to attract sponsors to cover the games, not to mention the owners of Aksyon TV -- ESPN5 -- having other sports coverages to attend to.

4. Too much competition. The D League has an age limit of 30 years old, meaning players who are 30 and above are no longer eligible to play there. As a result, many of these players are now playing in the newly-launched Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League, a league founded by boxing champ Manny Pacquiao. There are some players who play for both the D League and MPBL at the same time but the latter league offers a slightly higher pay and live TV coverage through ABS-CBN S+A. Even a young player like Bobby Ray Parks decided to play in the MPBL because that league has more teams and has more fan support under the home-and-away format previously implemented in the defunct MBA. In addition, the college players who normally use the D League to hone their skills instead decide to concentrate on the Filoil Flying V pre-season tournament, which also airs live on TV.

5. The school-based format. In a previous post here in this blog, the PBA D League is totally different from its American counterpart, the NBA G League. The latter allows players to get called up anytime for NBA jobs since they're semi-pros while in the former, many of the players are still playing in college, meaning they have to go through the PBA draft. Also, seeing a college team playing in the D League like Centro Escolar University is awkward since the D League is a semi-pro league. The school-based format also created problems before when African players who had school ties played there like Ola Adeogun and Karim Abdul. As I posted, the D League is almost a carbon copy of the PBL which collapsed primarily because of that reason. The PBL accepted school-based teams in its remaining years and this is hurting the D League now the same way the PBL was hurt by this policy. Again, this is a matter of the D League trying to attract interested companies but many of them left after just a few conferences because the PBA isn't doing anything to pump up interest.

I hope Commissioner Marcial and the PBA board thresh out whatever problems are hurting the PBA D League. This league is supposed to be the last step for college players wanting to turn pro but with the MPBL slowly making waves, the D League must not be caught napping.