Alaska ends three-decade PBA stint

MANILA, Philippines – The PBA has reached an end of an era with the retirement of one of its most decorated franchises — the Alaska Aces.

The Alaska Milk Corporation announced the shock decision on Wednesday, February 16.

The Alaska franchise has been in the PBA for more than 30 years.

"We thought long and hard before making this final decision. However, we believe that this will allow us to focus our resources on providing affordable nutrition for Filipino families," AMC Chairman Fred Uytengsu said in a statement.

"The Aces franchise will always be very special to me. I had the good fortune of starting this franchise at the age of 24 and learn so much about team dynamics and building championship teams from the players and coaching staff. We take great pride in our participation and success all these years and know we won with integrity," he added.

Since their founding in 1986, the Aces have won 14 championships and made a total of 31 Finals appearances.

They also won a Grand Slam in the 1996 under the tutelage of coaching great Tim Cone.

The franchise has also produced a number of PBA greats such as Johnny Abarrientos, Bogs Adornado, and Jojo Lastimosa, to name a few.

The Aces are expected to finish the PBA Governor's Cup before hanging up their jerseys for good.

The PBA will thus be depleted to an 11-team league after this conference.

The Aces currently have a 3-2 win-loss record and will play their next game Thursday against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.