Maharlika basketball league tips off Thursday with 10 teams at Big Dome

MPBL press conference. Randolph B. Leongson/INQUIRER.net

After months of planning, Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League will finally tip off on Thursday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With eyes geared towards bringing glamour to the ballers in the grassroots level, MPBL commissioner Kenneth Duremdes said that the league’s aim is to discover the next great Filipino baller through the inaugural Anta Rajah Cup.

“This is the league for the Filipinos and a league for all,” he said Monday in their press conference at Annabel’s in Tomas Morato.

“Like what Sen. Manny is saying, we’re here to help the players who graduated and has no where to play in, the ex-pros who didn’t get enough exposure in the PBA, and the grassroots player who can use the MPBL as their springboard for bigger opportunities.”

Ten teams will compete in the maiden conference of the league, namely Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Caloocan, Imus, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Quezon City, and Valenzuela.

They will compete in a single-round robin elimination round with each team hosting at least two home games in their respective arenas.

The Caloocan Supremos and the Parañaque Patriots will open the festivities at the Big Dome, where MPBL organizers are giving away ten motorbikes and one car.

As early as now, the MPBL brass has its sight set on extending the league nationwide.

“Part of the objective is to give way also to players in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” said MPBL head for marketing and production Arnold Vegafria. “For now, there’s a lot of teams which applied. But Visayas and Mindanao are part of Sen. Pacquiao’s big plan to move to the other parts of the country.”