Beam willing to pull out venue ads

Beam is more than willing to terminate its contract with the Araneta Coliseum and the Philsports Arena if this would help resolve the in-venue advertising woes of the Philippine Basketball Association.

The problem is that the managements of the two playing venues seem uninclined to forego their respective deals with the toothpaste product.

Beam general manager Baby Yao announced this yesterday even as she stressed it had no deal with the PBA and wasn’t involved in the estafa case the league is threatening to file against marketing man Nelson Macaraig of Jonel Promotions.

"We want exposure (for our product) but if this is the kind of exposure we’ll get, huwag na lang sana," said Yao.

"We’re not only asking but begging Araneta Coliseum to let us go. Ayaw namin makasagasa at ayaw rin namin matapakan. Kung may gulo, we better forego the deal," added the Beam top executive.

However, the Araneta Coliseum management is not entertaining the idea of terminating the contract which runs up to year 2005.

Yao refused to divulge the amount of money involved in the deal but The STAR source said it’s P15 million representing Beam’s payment to Araneta Coliseum for its decals on the Big Dome hard court.

"We have a valid contract with Beam. Saka wala naman problema ang Araneta at Beam. It looks like Nelson Macaraig and the PBA are the ones into some problem," said Uniprom Inc. chief executive officer Lucas Pasiliao.

The problem stemmed from the bouncing check for P5 million Macaraig issued to the PBA.

The two parties have their own versions about the issue although they are in agreement that the money is in consideration for an arrangement that PBA play in venues where Macaraig has had ad materials.

Beam became the center of the PBA-Macaraig scuffle since Macaraig is a supplier-agent of the toothpaste company. Macaraig acted as the middleman in the Beam-Araneta deal.

"From the start we’re begging Araneta to allow us to back out dahil nakikita na namin ang problema. But we’re advised to just ignore it. They said it will die a natural death," said Yao.

Yao said she’s only blaming herself for not carefully studying the contract before signing it.

Because of the unwanted ads inside the Araneta Coliseum, the PBA decided to defer holding games in the Quezon City dome.

Araneta Coliseum officials are still hoping the PBA has a change of heart. "Siyempre gusto namin bumalik ang PBA dahil nakasanayan na ng tao na naglalaro sila dito. Kaya lang hindi kami makapagbigay ng commitment sa kanila," said Pasiliao with regards to their continuous talks with the PBA.