Romero ‘very serious’ about joining PBA

SPORTSMAN-BUSINESSMAN Mikee Romero has formalized his intent to enter a team in the Philippine Basketball Association next year by becoming its 11th member.

“I want the ‘Batang Pier’ (his team’s monicker) to be in the PBA by August,” Romero told the Inquirer over the phone yesterday, a few hours after his meeting with league commissioner Chito Salud. “It’s very serious and I am pursuing it this time.”

Romero inquired about a new franchise, which will fetch for no less than P60 million, or an old one which he will look at should one of the 10 teams decide to disband at the end of the season.

“If there’s one team that comes to him (Salud) and says that it wants to sell, then I will take a look at it,” said Romero, who, if his application is approved by the board, will name his team the Global Port Inc. Batang Pier.

“He is not just a curious buyer,” Salud said of Romero. “He told me, in no uncertain terms, that he will join next year because he said that this is the right time to join.”

During the meeting with Salud, Romero also asked about the exact mechanics to apply for a franchise and the concessions involved should a new franchise is made available.

Romero made it no secret that he would be haggling to directly hire five amateur players directly into his team, two of them being the 6-foot-9 Jun Fajardo and livewire Filipino-American Chris Hodge.

Romero will formally write Salud and the board within the next few days to inform them of his intent and his wish-list for the concessions of the new franchise.