Philippine Basketball League

The Philippine Basketball League (PBL) was a commercial semi-professional basketball league in the Philippines. The league is composed of several commercial teams with several collegiate and provincial stars.

History
The PBL was formed in May 6, 1983, a brainchild of San Miguel Corporation chairman Danding Cojuangco, under its original name the Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL). It was the successor of the defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA), which folded during the early-1980s. During the inaugural PABL tournament, over 36 collegiate and commercial teams participated in the tournament that was played in the historic Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The PABL became a breeding ground for future Philippine Basketball Association superstars Jun Limpot, Johnny Abarrientos, Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim, Bong Alvarez, Alvin Patrimonio, Jojo Lastimosa and Benjie Paras. In the early days, the league even invited some foreign squads to beef up the tournament.

In the 1990s, the league was renamed as the Philippine Basketball League under Andy Jao, who would later return to the broadcasting panel of the PBA coverage on Vintage Sports. Jao's replacement, Charlie Favis later adopted a new theme, calling the PBL as the "faster league".

Yeng Guiao replaced Favis, when Guiao left the coaching ranks. The league gained early success with the dominance of the Tanduay Rhum Masters, the arrival of Eric Menk and Asi Taulava, and the holding PBL games at the air-conditioned Makati Coliseum.

In 2000, former Vintage Sports commentator Chino Trinidad replaced Guiao, when the commissioner resigned to coach Red Bull in the Philippine Basketball Association, the country's premier professional basketball league. The PBL's popularity grew, inviting commercial teams bannered by single collegiate teams, and the league also gained a stable broadcast partner in Studio 23. In 2007, PBL broke away from Studio 23 and signed an agreement with cable channel Basketball TV to broadcast the games.

Chino Trinidad announced (March 2010) that he would be retiring as commissioner of the PBL and said he would be focusing his career as reporter of GMA-7 and sportscaster for Solar Sports.

Through an agreement between the PBL and the Liga Pilipinas, a joint tournament was held in June 2010.

The agreement was made as dry-run of a proposed "Developmental League", which was initiated by the Philippine Basketball Association, just like NBA's D-League. The tournament was planned to be named "Tournament of the Philippines".

Tournament of the Philippines started June 9, 2010, and used the Liga Pilipinas' home-and-away leg format with 9 teams involved, 3 from the PBL and 6 from Liga Pilipinas. M.Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Ninos became the 1st (and last) TOP champions by defeating Misamis Oriental Meteors, 3-2.

After the tournament, merger talks between the 2 leagues went sour and were put off for good.

The Philippine Basketball Association then announced that they would organize instead the "D-League" on their own after merger talks (PBL & Liga Pilipinas) failed.

In 2011, PBL named Nolan Bernardino, son of former PBA commissioner Emilio "Jun" Bernardino, as the new PBL commissioner, while Sports Vision, the company behind the success of Shakey's V-League, was named as the group that would handle PBL's day-to-day operations. However, the league experienced great difficulty finding 6 teams for the 2011 opening tournament when four of the teams that had earlier confirmed their participation jumped ship to the PBA D-League, namely Pharex, Agri Nurture-FCA, Cafe France and Cobra Energy Drink.

PBL Commissioner Nolan Bernardino said he had already been informed of the matter and that he respected the transferring teams' decisions. This resulted in the PBL hibernating again.

Current teams

 * Fern-C Fernastics
 * Harbour Centre Pier
 * Cobra Energy Drink Iron Men
 * Pharex Generix
 * Hapee Complete Protectors
 * Tide Bleach Boosters
 * LBC-Batangas Blades
 * Tortillos UP
 * Head & Shoulders Kings
 * Sunkist Juice Drink

Notable PABL Teams of the 1980s

 * Sampaguita Garments
 * Lagerlite Beer
 * Golden Rice Cereals
 * Development Bank of Rizal
 * Rizal Athletic Club
 * Perpetual Savings Bank
 * Boogie Jeans
 * Farinas Transit
 * Mama's Love
 * Army Jungle Fighters
 * ESQ-Marketing
 * Masagana 99 Rice Growers
 * Maisagana 77
 * Country Fair Foodmakers
 * Cine Suerte
 * Arellano University
 * Southern Textile Mills
 * Manhattan Shirts
 * ERDC
 * Customs-MCDC
 * Davao All-Stars
 * Lhuillier Jewelers / Converse-Lhuillier
 * RFM-Swifts Hotdogs
 * Hope Cigarettes
 * Magnolia Ice Cream/Juice Drink
 * Purefoods Food Experts
 * Fuji Soy Sauce
 * YCO Shine Masters
 * Philips Sardines
 * Sta.Lucia Realtors
 * MIESCOR Builders
 * Lady's Choice
 * Converse All-Stars
 * AFPSLAI Troopers
 * Agfa Colors
 * Burger City
 * Crispa 400s

PBL Teams in the 1990s

 * Magnolia Ice Cream
 * Philips Sardines / A&W Rootbeers / A&W Hamburger Pioneers
 * Sta.Lucia Realty / Otto Shoes
 * Crispa 400 / Crispa White Cement
 * Burger City / Burger Machine
 * Pop Cola/Sarsi/Swift Hotdogs/New Pop Cola
 * Agfa Colors / Red Bull Energy Drink
 * Mama's Love / Casino Rubbing Alcohol
 * RC Cola
 * Triple-V Foodmasters
 * Nikon Home Partners / Nikon Electric Fan
 * Instafood Mealmasters / Magnolia Cheese Spread
 * Rica Hotdogs / Carol-Ann Snackmasters
 * Chowking Fastfood Kings
 * Stag Pale Pilseners / Tanduay Rhum Gold Masters / Colt45
 * Oriental Battery / Super Power Battery
 * Hapee Toothpaste / Dazz Dishwashing Liquid / Kutitap Cavity Fighters
 * Welcoat Paints
 * Springmaid
 * AMA Computer College Cybertigers
 * Wilkins Distillery
 * Dr.J Rubbing Alcohol / ANA Water Dispenser
 * Zest-O Juice Drink
 * Montana Pawnshop
 * Kendi Mint
 * Blu Detergent
 * Boysen Paints-Industrial Bank of Korea (1994)
 * Budweiser Kings-Guam (1994)
 * Yakult-China (1995)
 * Atlanta Pipes-USA (1993)
 * Cebuana Lhuillier-USA (1995)

PBL Teams from 2000-2010

 * Pharex Generix
 * Cobra Energy Drink Iron Men
 * Excel Roof 25ers
 * Agri Nurture Inc.-FCA Cultivators
 * Harbour Centre Batang Pier
 * Hapee Complete Protectors
 * Magnolia Purewater Wizards
 * Fern-C Ferntastics
 * Pharex B-Complex - UP Fighting Maroons
 * AddMix Transformers - Adamson Falcons
 * Cossack Blue Spirits - UE Red Warriors
 * Far Eastern Insurance
 * Kettle Korn-UST PopKings/Sunkist-UST
 * Sunkist Juice Drink-Pampanga
 * Mail and More Comets
 * Toyota-Otis Sparks / Toyota-Balintawak
 * TeleTech Titans
 * Nutri-licious Juicers
 * Pharmaquick
 * BluStar Detergent Kings/GIV Beauty Soap/Noosa Shoes Stars
 * Chaz Perfume
 * Kendi Mint
 * ANA Freezer/Water Dispenser
 * John O. Juzz/Senators
 * LBC-Batangas Blades
 * Addict Mobile - Ateneo/Lee Pipes-Ateneo
 * ICTSI-La Salle / Osaka - La Salle
 * Pioneer Insurance - Ateneo
 * NENACO-San Beda
 * Welcoat Paintmasters / Rain or Shine Elasto Painters
 * Paralux Paints
 * Bingo Pilipino Bingonaryos
 * Henkel Sista Super Sealers
 * Cebuana Lhuillier Pera Padala Moneymen
 * Philippines men's national under-19 basketball team (Nokia-RP Youth Team)
 * Shark Energy Drink Power Boosters / Cheese Balls Shark
 * Burger King Stunners/Whoopers
 * Montaña Pawnshop Jewels
 * Granny Goose / Tortillos - UP

Media
Beginning the 2007 season, the PBL games were seen on Basketball TV (a channel of the Solar family of cable networks) after several years of being shown on UHF television station Studio 23. Games were televised every Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 5-9 pm Philippine time plus rebroadcasts on BTV in the wee hours of the morning. RPN also had a delayed telecast of Tuesday's second game, but this was moved to IBC-13 on Saturdays, until the season-ending 2008 Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup. The coverage eventually returned to RPN named as C/S 9 (now Solar TV). The telecast of the games were live but the other games were delayed subject to prior coverage of the games until 2010.

Prior to BTV, previous broadcasters included ABS-CBN, People's Television Network (later National Broadcasting Network), Silverstar Sports, Solar Sports and Vintage Television, as the games were usually put on airtime slots. With ABS-CBN, the league initially forged a deal in 2003 as a blocktimer, then in 2004 renewed ties to make ABS-CBN Sports its official TV producer/coverer and Studio 23 its official carrying station of the games.

DZSR Sports Radio 918 kHz, a government station, had been airing the PBL games on radio since the start of the PABL back in the mid-1980s.

In 2002, the league opened its official website, myPBL.com, powered by E-Highway. In 2007, the website transferred to a new address at PhilippineBasketballLeague.org with the alternate address PBL.org.ph

Broadcast Partners of the PBL

 * Silverstar Communications (2000-2003)
 * National Broadcasting Network (2000-2003)
 * Vintage Television on IBC-13 (1996-2000)
 * ABS-CBN Sports (2003-2007)
 * Basketball TV (2007-2009)
 * Radio Philippines Network-Solar TV (2007-2009)
 * GMA Network (2012-present)

The PBL and the Philippine Basketball Association
The Philippine Basketball Association, the premier basketball league in the country, has a special relationship with the PBL; several teams in the PBL are owned by companies also having PBA teams (such as San Miguel Corporation's PBL team is San Mig Coffee, with SMC also owning 3 PBA teams). The PBL is also one of the leagues where the PBA gets their players. Even quite a few successful PBL teams transferred to the PBA (although a system of promotion and relegation is not practiced in the Philippines), such as Purefoods, Red Bull, Welcoat and most recently Burger King.

Commissioners

 * Jose "Joe" Pavia (1983-1984)
 * Mauricio "Moying" Martellino (1985-1988)
 * Andy Jao (1989-1990)
 * Gregorio "Ogie" Narvasa II (1991-1992)
 * Philip Ella Juico (1993-1994)
 * Charlie Favis (1994-1997)
 * Joseller "Yeng" Guiao (1997-2000)
 * Manolo "Chino" L. Trinidad (2000-2010).
 * Nolan Bernardino (2011)