An explosion of basketball

Basketball has grown by leaps and bounds in the Philippines, and it brings a whole set of advantages and disadvantages. From 2002 to 2008, this writer independently produced “The Basketball Show,” a weekly magazine program dedicated entirely to local basketball. At the time, there weren’t that many leagues yet: PBA, PBL, UAAP, NCAA and this new one in Cebu called CESAFI. The San Miguel All-Stars, composed of retired professional players, traveled all over the country doing charity work. Occasionally, a new organization would pop up to add some variety. Once or twice a year, the NBA’s sponsors would fly in one or two of their players and a team’s cheering squad. It kept me hopping to cover everything.

But in the last decade alone, how many new basketball leagues have sprouted? Practically every permutation and demographic now exists, as long as it has the requisite “B” for basketball or “A” or “L” for association or league and at least one or two other letters signifying the organization in its abbreviation, that would do. Many are regional leagues, trying to accommodate more teams while simultaneously struggling to keep their costs down. The good news is that most of them are flourishing. That just shows how powerful the pull of hoops still is in the Philippines.

What does this all mean? It means that more and more athletes can make a decent living following their passion. For the most part, they probably won’t get rich, but it could lead to a coaching job down the road; or, if they’re lucky, they could get scouted and end up playing abroad for bigger bucks. The world is opening up to Filipino talent. Japan already has 13 Filipino imports. Korea, Taiwan and China are already scouting for more. Things are looking good.

Also, with the wide availability of the internet, and the capability not just to broadcast, but to store games without having to pay astronomical sums for airtime, it’s cheaper to broadcast games. This means more work for sports broadcasters old and new. Sponsors don’t have to pay as much. As long as they get the niche audience they want, or have a league for their children to play in, then everyone is happy. So corporations that can’t or won’t fork over hundreds of millions of pesos for a PBA team now have many places to call home.

Strangely, it also means a paradoxical shift in the game. With the new intention of adopting European-style basketball, this unprecedented expansion of the sport may also mean that it will take longer for the technical change to take hold. First, it takes a while to learn a new system, particularly if you’ve been coaching for a while. Secondly, with all the new hotbeds suddenly springing to life, it will necessitate more time for the advances in basketball to penetrate all the new growth areas. This is the irony of progress. It marks improvement, but it also makes it harder for succeeding change to seep in.

Overall, it’s the best time in history to be a Filipino basketball fan. And things wll only get better.