PBA hot issues still unresolved

The guessing game continues.

The PBA board met for almost four hours Monday evening but still failed to resolve a couple of hot, urgent and at times controversial issues as far as the league’s ongoing search for a new commissioner and television partner is concerned.

Commissioner Jun Bernardino yesterday did not comment on the meeting held at the Manila Golf Club, saying PBA chairman Butch Alejo of Purefoods would be in a better position to make one. The STAR immediately tried to contact Alejo at his office but was told that he called in sick for the day.

League sources, however, said the meeting failed to produce concrete results after the bidders for the television rights, including NBN-IBC, Viva Vintage and the group led by Carlos "Bobong" Velez, were asked by the board to restructure their respective bids.

"The issue on the TV coveror has not been resolved. No final decision has been arrived at," said another league insider.

He added that the commissionership issue was not even tackled during the meeting. Among those being considered to replace Bernardino are long-time PBA resident and executive director Sonny Barrios, former Shell representative Rey Gamboa and lawyer-newscaster Noli Eala.

"The issue of the commissionership, as a matter of fact, was not part of the agenda. There was no discussion among the board members. But what I’m aware of is that the board will take up the issue of the commissionership after the TV coveror," he said.

"It’s not going to be (the other way around) because it will be too late in the day for the new commissioner. Masyado nang malalim ang usapan," the source added.

Among the bidders for the TV rights, the combined efforts of NBN (4) and IBC (13) is reportedly the better one since it would provide a wider coverage of the games not just over the two mega television networks but also to 33 provincial stations reaching 94 percent of the country.

What further impressed the PBA board were the perks of the proposed NBN-IBC offer which include the use of two portable satellites for provincial games that would telecast the games from anywhere in the country, five OB (outside broadcast) vans dedicated for PBA games, the coverage over 18 radio stations nationwide, a dozen cameras at the playing venue — including slam cams, isolation cameras and slow-mo machines.

Meanwhile, action in the Selecta-PBA All-Filipino Cup resumes today with Sta. Lucia Realty, last year’s Governors Cup champion, eyeing a share of the early lead at the Yñares Center in Antipolo, Rizal.

Sta. Lucia, which hurdled its opening assignment against Talk N Text, meets Ginebra at 5:35 p.m., hoping to join Purefoods and Red Bull on top of the season-ending tournament with a 2-0 record.

Ginebra split its first two games this conference, losing to Purefoods before bouncing back against San Miguel Beer in Bataan last Saturday. Ginebra, Purefoods, San Miguel and Coca-Cola are all sister-teams under San Miguel Corp.

In the other game at 7:35 p.m., Talk N Text takes on FedEx with both teams hoping to barge into the win column. The Phone Pals lost their first game to the Realtors while the Express have dropped two games against the Beermen and the Hotdogs.

Talk N Text, the losing finalist against Red Bull in the previous Commissioner’s Cup, has fallen into yet another controversy by tapping Paul Woolpert to replace fellow American Bill Bayno, but seemed to have gotten over it with its new coach finally securing a working permit.