‘PBA is a strong league’: Narvasa says attendance decline ‘misconception’

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but none tell the whole story when it comes to the PBA’s popularity.

“The PBA is a strong league; the dwindling (audience) is a misconception,” said commissioner Chito Narvasa Thursday night, when he guested at SportsIQ, the country’s first omni-platform live sports talk show.

INQUIRER.net launched SportsIQ Thursday night, with its inaugural episode aired live on INQ 990 Television, Radyo Inquirer and INQUIRER.net Facebook, Youtube, Periscope, and website.

“As a matter of fact,” Narvasa told hosts Francis T.J. Ochoa, the Inquirer assistant sports editor, and Celest Flores-Colina, INQUIRER.net’s sports editor, “there’s still a lot of interest coming in, other sponsors, new teams and advertisers, in fact we have to reject some of them.”

Narvasa said that attendance wise, the league has already surpassed revenue earned at the same period last season.

“You have a perception na nilalangaw kami (that we play to empty coliseums) and that’s okay, that’s fine during the eliminations,” said Narvasa. “But in the semis, finals, that’s when ticket sales [pick up].”

Pictures shared on social media platforms have shown game PBA game venues, Smart Araneta Coliseum and Mall of Asia Arena, playing host to sparse audiences and Narvasa was hardly alarmed of the poor turnout.

The PBA has had to deal with external factors with regard to live audience, including the epic Metro Manila traffic and the ease by which fans can access games through the league’s other platforms like television and streaming.

“In Metro Manila, you have to understand the demographic, there’s so many distractions already and so many other activities going on and it diverts also the attention of the people, and its something we’re looking into,” said Narvasa. “But you go to the provinces, we’re always full, there’s a lot of demand for PBA games.”

(For more of commissioner Narvasa’s interview, check out the show’s replay on INQUIRER.net’s Facebook page and other stories at https://sports.inquirer.net. Catch SportsIQ every Thursday 8 to 9 p.m.)