It was only a couple of decades ago, but the 2000s already seems like another era altogether. This is especially true when you look back at what the Philippine Basketball Association was like back then. In this series, we harken back to the time of two-network broadcasts, a two-conference format, Fil-Shams, and other events that defined the PBA in the first decade of the new millennium.
Dwindling attendance numbers, waning popularity, a major scandal which became a national issue, and faulty TV coverage. Those were some of the problems that the PBA faced in the early years of the new millennium.
In late 2002, longtime league commissioner Emilio "Jun" Bernardino, who had guided the world's second-oldest professional basketball league since 1993, announced that he was stepping down at the end of the year due to health issues.
Jose Emmanuel "Noli" Eala, a veteran sportscaster for the league's TV coveror, Vintage Sports since the 1990s, decided to put himself in consideration for a very tough task: save the PBA from impending collapse.
"This came as a shock. Comm. Jun had led the PBA for a very, very long time. So, all of a sudden, there was also a leadership crisis. I think when I came in, you have to look at the circumstances during that time to see that drastic measures had to be taken when I came into the PBA," Eala recalled to ESPN5.com in a phone interview.
Eala nosed out former Shell head coach Chito Narvasa and Pilipinas Shell executive Rey Gamboa for the position after deliberation by the PBA Board of Governors.
When Eala assumed the post in January 2003, the PBA was embroiled in the Fil-Sham controversy, where numerous allegations of foreigners faking their Filipino citizenship arose, even causing the Philippine Senate to hold inquiries seven times from November 2002 to May 2003.
"Well, when I came in 2003, the PBA was somewhat under attack. If you would remember during that time, the Fil-Am controversy was brewing. This was the time when there were a lot of allegations of fake Fil-Ams, the Fil-Sham controversy. And of course, the credentials of certain players were also questioned," said Eala.
"The players were very important for their respective teams. This included Dorian Peña, Davonn Harp, Asi [Taulava], even Eric Menk and a few others. That was one of the few issues at the time. The other issue at the time was the problems of the collections of those PBA revenues, particularly with its previous broadcaster, which was then Viva-Vintage Enterprises," he added.
To make matters worse, several teams were still reeling from the effects of the 1998 Asian financial crisis, causing the working capital of the league to severely dip.
"To be honest, the finances of the PBA when I entered was not very good. Our working capital had dwindled quite a lot. And I came into the league where the PBA teams were not receiving any kind of dividends for a few years already," explained the former commissioner.
Moreover, the PBA decided to air parallel broadcasts on NBN4 and IBC13, thus fragmenting the league's falling television ratings even further. Viva-Vintage, the previous broadcaster, also left significant debt to the league after they aired their last game on Christmas Day, 2002.
Eala knew that upholding the status quo was not the solution the PBA needed; things had to change in a very big way.
"When I came in, I was advised by the people that I consulted. I got an agency of course, but I also consulted with my TV-coveror-partner at the time, which was NBN4 and later it was ABC5," Eala remembered. "I cannot simply make small changes. The league needed changes that would be felt by the fans and the viewers."
One of these changes involved proposing a major shift in the PBA's long-standing format.
PBA is reinvented
In late 2003, following consultations from various parties, Eala presented a plan that would change the league's landscape. Monotony would simply not cut it as big changes needed to be made if the PBA wanted to be relevant in the eyes of the general public once again.
Dubbed the "Fourth Quarter Plan," akin to a much-needed clutch performance, Eala presented several proposals to the PBA Board for immediate approval.
"In a general sense, the whole strategy was what we called the 'Disruption strategy.' I had to disrupt what was being done in the PBA for so long. So that the people could feel the changes that we were making," Eala explained.
The first proposed change was moving the usual March start to an October-November one, to achieve synchronization with FIBA's international competitions.
Another reason was to help the league find better imports and avoid competition from other foreign leagues.
The second plan was bigger support for the national team. At the time, the PBA only lent support every four years for the Asian Games.
Other competitions, such as the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship, Southeast Asian Games, and the zonal championship were left in the hands of amateurs.
"The reason for this was it was my thesis that as the national team goes, so does the PBA. So if there is success in the national team, basketball in general is affected and basketball is either improved or it deteriorates. It depends on how the national team plays internationally," Eala cited.
Lastly was trimming the three-conference format to two. Since the PBA's formation in 1975, the league had always featured three conferences, which eventually were named the Commissioner's Cup, the Governors' Cup, and the All-Filipino Cup.
Eala gave four reasons on why he decided to push for the abridged number of conferences.
First was it finally allowed a full-time commitment to the national team, which at time was at its lowest point. " We could schedule our tournaments in such a way that you could free up a good portion of the year with the national team to get together and train and play together and compete internationally."
He also believed that a three-conference season cheapens the championship and led to undesirable elimination games. "I felt, based on the studies that we made at the time, that players tend to relax after being eliminated or at least wala na silang chance to make it in a particular conference because anyway, there's another conference and there's another one to follow. They need to be so intense throughout the conference and that created games that were lackadaisical. I wanted to remove the no-bearing games." Eala posited that the format would extend players' careers. "There were too many conferences. Too many practice sessions. For so long, players were getting injured. And I felt that there was a need to protect our players."
Finally, he thought that revenue generated would remain the same, or even improve. "We had the same number of games, pareho lang naman. Yung requirement of each team, 36 elimination round games and minimum of a 100 playing days in a year for our television coveror. That was all part of the study, the science that we did. Yung aming format, naging very unique."
One of the conferences would feature a wildcard phase for the lower-ranked teams and a group phase featuring the top eight seeds in the quarterfinals. The two would be re-grouped into four teams each and would fight each other again once. The teams with the top two records would advance to the semifinals.
"It was a reward and punishment system that we created and that was the basis of the two-conference format. That was the rationale behind all of that and I think we were able to package it very well," shared Eala.
Before presenting the "Fourth Quarter Plan" to the Board, Eala decided to first get the opinions of the coaches.
The PBA's more respected mentors like Tim Cone and Norman Black signed off their approval, which gave the commissioner confidence that he could pull it through.
Initially, Eala just wanted the second conference, called the Fiesta Conference, to become a transition phase towards a single season dubbed the 'One Philippine Cup,' like the NBA and the Euroleague.
The One Philippine Cup was very much like the two-conference set-up since it was divided into halves, but the record of the All-Filipino would continue to the import-flavored conference.
However, the Board shot down that proposal, believing that the measure was too drastic to happen.
Eventually, the two-conference format was eventually adopted in time for the 2004-05 campaign, replacing the Invitational Tournament, which pitted locals against foreign squads, and the Reinforced Conference.
The inaugural conference was very much different from what people had been used to since it featured the aforementioned wildcard phases and a group phase in the quarters.
After top seed San Miguel was ousted in the first round, the format was eventually changed in favor of the top two seeds, as they automatically booked a semifinals seat.
League favorites Ginebra, behind Best Player of the Conference and subsequent Finals MVP Eric Menk, won the inaugural Fiesta Conference crown over Red Bull, 3-1.
Aside from the revised format, the league decided to integrate innovative and novel marketing gimmicks, along with additional programming over broadcaster ABC5.
The league had also lowered the cheapest seats to five pesos, which saw a rise in attendance. People could now watch quality basketball in an air-conditioned venue by just paying pocket change, which was even cheaper than what they would pay riding a jeep to get there.
The All-Star festivities were lengthened to a week, and the Leo Awards, which feted the league's best, was introduced. More importantly, the league was now seeing parity among its 10 teams.
From the transitional 2004 Fiesta Conference until the final one in the 2009-10 season, 60% of the teams won at least one title.
League favorite Ginebra led with four, San Miguel, Purefoods, and Alaska each one twice, while Red Bill, Sta. Lucia, and Talk 'N Text won a title apiece.
More importantly, the league was slowly regaining the trust and confidence of the populace as gate receipts, sponsorships and ratings rose.
By the time Eala vacated his post in August 2007, the league's capital improved seven times compared to when he assumed office.
More than the rejuvenation of its finances, Eala was proud to share that he was successful in helping the lead emerge from the ashes.
"Nagkaroon ng parang pagbabalik ng fans kasi nagbago ang itsura ng PBA. And that was all we really wanted. We wanted the fans to go back and watch the games and see a new PBA and to catch the younger sector of our communities," shared Eala.
Should it happen again?
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the league is mulling to hold just one conference, or scrap the 45th season altogether.
Eala, who maintains his stand of bringing back the two-conference format, urges the league to reconsider the schedule to help lengthen preparations for Gilas Pilipinas.
Over the past two years, the league has had lengthy stoppages of play to give way to the various international competitions like the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the FIBA World Cup, and the 30th Southeast Asian Games. It had caused the 2019 PBA season to stretch for over a year.
"Yes, with more reason I think the PBA should consider a two-conference format although it depends on when they decide to restart. Kasi ako, I still believe, they should begin the season every October, between October to November. That gives us enough time to cover our responsibilities with the national team," explained Eala.