SEVILLE, Spain—The gratified guest desires to be the gracious host this time.
Fresh off its fighting run at the recent Fiba World Cup here, the Philippines will make a strong bid to host the 2019 championship in Manila, according to tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, also the president of the country’s national basketball federation.
“I have made a strong pitch that the Philippines would like to host the 2019 World Cup,” he said.
Credited with shepherding the national team back to basketball’s world stage after an absence of 36 years, Pangilinan also stands to become the very first Asian member of Fiba’s powerful central board.
He bared the news Thursday night (Friday morning in Manila) when he hosted a dinner for the Gilas squad that gifted the country its first World Cup win since 1974 at the expense of Senegal, 81-79, at Centro Deportes San Pablo here.
“I’ve been invited to the central board of Fiba and I’m inclined to accept the nomination,” said Pangilinan.
No less than Patrick Baumann, the very influential secretary general of the Fiba, will nominate Pangilinan to the post, according to the tycoon himself.
With Pangilinan in the board, the Philippines will have a powerful voice when deliberations for the hosting bids commence.
The 2019 edition will have 32 countries—eight more than the competing field in Spain—bracketed into eight groups with four teams each. The new setup requires the successful bidder to hold the games in eight venues.
The host country, though, gains an automatic slot in the tournament and can select the group it wants to be in, thus giving it better chances of advancing to the KO stages.
An SBP official, who asked not to be named at this time, said the Mall of Asia Arena, Smart Araneta Coliseum, Philsports Arena, all in Metro Manila, as well as the Pilipinas Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan, and a newly built coliseum in Cebu City could stage games for five of the eight groups.
The same Inquirer source estimated the cost of hosting the global tournament to be in the “north of $2 million (about P87 million).”
Pangilinan said the country needs to gain more international experience to be very competitive as a team and as host in 2019.
“You guys better stay healthy. We still have a job to do,” said Pangilinan, addressing the players during the dinner while adding that he could not thank them enough for showing what the Filipinos are capable of.