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The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's
professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and sk ...
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
league in the Philippines.


History

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...
launched the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League on August 29, 2017, starting off as a semi-professional league. According to Pacquiao, the league is not intended to be a competitor to the
Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...
, the country's top professional basketball league. The MPBL was intended to feature both a regional commercial and
barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolita ...
-level league with teams on the commercial side to have a home locality in addition to a corporate sponsor. In the first months, the league hosted teams from
Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...
with future plans to expand to accommodate teams based in
Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands ( Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, ...
and
Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
like the defunct
Metropolitan Basketball Association The Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), or Metroball, was a professional basketball league in the Philippines that ran from March 7, 1998, to July 26, 2002. History The MBA played its first game on March 7, 1998, at the Don Narciso Ramos ...
. It is planned that an expanded MPBL will have two conferences, North and South, where the best teams from both divisions will face in the finals similar to the format of the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...
of the United States. The league was planned to start as early as September 23, 2017 with at least six teams. A pre-season was held with the Bulacan Kuyas finishing as champions. The inaugural cup of the MPBL, the Anta Rajah Cup commenced on January 25, 2018, and was participated in by ten teams. In the opening game at the
Smart Araneta Coliseum The Araneta Coliseum, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Smart Araneta Coliseum, is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena that is part of the Araneta City in the Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. Nicknamed as "the Big Dom ...
, the Parañaque Patriots secured a 70–60 victory over the Caloocan Supremos. The first tournament ran until April 19, 2018, where the Batangas City Athletics crowned as the league's first-ever champion. After its inaugural cup, the 2018 Anta Rajah Cup, the MPBL had expanded its roster of teams to 26. All teams are expected to play in the next cup. After the ten expansion teams were admitted into the league, it closed its doors for new applicants from Luzon. This was done to leave room for future Visayas and Mindanao teams. A meeting in Cebu was held on April 28 for potential Visayas and Mindanao teams.
Davao Occidental Tigers Davao Occidental Tigers, also known as Davao Occidental Tigers Cocolife due to sponsorship reasons, are a professional basketball team in the Pilipinas Super League. History In 2018, the Tigers joined the MPBL. After the team won the 2019–2 ...
became the first MPBL team from the Visayas-Mindanao region. In December 2019,
Chooks-to-Go Chooks-to-Go is a chain of stores owned by Bounty Agro Ventures, Inc. (BAVI), a privately owned company operating in the Philippines. It offers roast chicken and processed meats for off-premises consumption. Chooks-to-Go currently has clos ...
of
Bounty Agro Ventures Bounty Agro Ventures, Inc. (BAVI), also known as Bounty is a poultry company based in Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines. As the main company of the Bounty Fresh Group of Companies, it manages roast chicken retail chains Chooks-to-Go and Uling Roa ...
became the title sponsor of the league under a five-year deal. The 2019–20 season was postponed on March 12, 2020, after the second game of the Division Finals, but resumed play for the game threes of the Division Finals on March 10, 2021, almost exactly a year after, when it announced the resumption through a
bubble Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying fund ...
in Subic. With this, the 2020–21 season was also cancelled altogether due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. In October 2021, Chooks-to-Go took over the operations of the league. On November 9, 2021, it was announced that the MPBL will turn into a professional league. They have also lift the restrictions for Fil-foreign and ex-professional players. On December 9, 2021, the MPBL was granted professional status by the
Games and Amusements Board The Games and Amusements Board (GAB) ( tgl, Lupon sa Palaro at Libangan) is the government-ran regulatory body of professional sports in the Philippines. History The Games and Amusements Board initially started its operation in 1951 with the issu ...
.


Teams

The MPBL originated with 10 charter teams on its inaugural season. After its first successful season, it attracted a lot of teams across the Philippines to join.


2022 teams

; Notes # The
Pasig Pirates Pasig City MCW Sports is a Filipino professional basketball team representing Pasig. It was originally known as the Pasig Pirates, the Pasig Blue Pirates and the Pasig-Rizal Pirates from 1998 to 2000 in the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball ...
(as Pasig-Rizal Pirates),
San Juan Knights The San Juan Kings, previously known as the San Juan Knights, are a professional basketball team representing San Juan, Metro Manila. They played in the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) from 1999 to 2001, the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketba ...
and
Sarangani Marlins The Sarangani Marlins, previously known as the Taguig and Soccsksargen Marlins, are a professional basketball team in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association from 1998–2001 and Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League since 2019. History ...
were founded during the active years of Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA). # The
General Santos Warriors The GenSan Warriors are a professional basketball team currently playing in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. It has played in National Basketball Conference from 2007 to 2008 as GenSan MP PacMan Warriors, in Liga Pilipinas from 2008 to ...
was founded in 2005 as GenSan MP PacMan Warriors and participated in Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA), National Basketball Conference (NBC) and
Liga Pilipinas Liga Pilipinas was a regional basketball league in the Philippines. It was sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, the country's national basketball federation, and owned by Pinoy Basketbol, Inc. History The National Basketball C ...
in 2008. # The Sta. Lucia Realtors was founded in 1987 from the Philippine Basketball League (PBL)
Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in 1993 and the Pilipinas Commercial Basketball League (PCBL) in 2015.


Former teams


All-time venues


League championships


Media coverage

Similar to the defunct
Philippine Basketball League The Philippine Basketball League (PBL) was a commercial semi-professional basketball league in the Philippines. The league was composed of several commercial teams with several collegiate and provincial stars. History The PBL was formed on M ...
and the former
Shakey's V-League The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is a women's professional volleyball league in the Philippines organized by Sports Vision Management Group, Inc. The league began in 2004 as the Shakey's V-League, a women's collegiate league. Since 2011, th ...
prior to 2016, MPBL employs its own in-house broadcast team.
ABS-CBN Sports ABS-CBN Sports was a sports division of the Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN, which aired some of the notable sporting events in the Philippines. ABS-CBN Sports began in 1998 as the main broadcaster for the network-backed basketball leagu ...
and
ABS-CBN Regional Network Group ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company under L ...
were the inaugural official broadcasters of the league. It last aired games through A2Z; previously, it aired games of the MPBL through
S+A S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histor ...
Channel 23 and S+A HD Channel 166 with
Liga Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...
providing cable television coverage on Channels 86 and 166 on SkyCable and select provincial providers. Selected national finals games aired on
ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...
. The broadcasting deal was announced on January 11, 2018. The games aired internationally via
The Filipino Channel The Filipino Channel, commonly known as TFC, is a 24-hour global subscription television network based in Daly City, California with studios in Redwood City, California and offices in Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, UAE, Ethi ...
. Additionally, scheduled Monday games were aired on
Fox Sports Asia Fox Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) was a pan-Asian pay television network broadcasting in Asia, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd. It also oversaw a version of ...
until the 2019 championship. The games were also available via livestreaming through the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Facebook page,
ABS-CBN Sports ABS-CBN Sports was a sports division of the Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN, which aired some of the notable sporting events in the Philippines. ABS-CBN Sports began in 1998 as the main broadcaster for the network-backed basketball leagu ...
Website and
iWant TFC iWantTFC is a Filipino over-the-top content platform and production company owned and operated by ABS-CBN Digital Media, a division of ABS-CBN Corporation, formed in 2020 through the merger of two streaming services iWant and TFC Online. In ad ...
. However, their contract with the network's sports division were initially left in jeopardy due to the
ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy The ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy is a national dispute in the Philippines regarding the renewal of the congressional franchise that would have allowed Philippine media network ABS-CBN to continue broadcasting. Disputes between the go ...
, which led to the sports division's dissolution on August 31. Nevertheless, with the resumption of the stalled playoffs in March 2021,
ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...
remained the broadcast partner of the league, through A2Z. In December 2021, starting with the Invitationals, the league's media coverage transferred to the IBC and
TAP Sports TAP Sports (stylized as tap Sports) is a Philippine pay television network of sports channels owned by TAP Digital Media Ventures Corporation. It was launched on April 14, 2019, under two separate channels carried by Sky Cable, and was later rel ...
. The livestreaming of games were also carried over to the Chooks-to-Go Facebook page and on TAP Go. IBC did not extend their contract with the MPBL in 2021. On April 25, 2022, the media coverage of the league began to exclusively air on
One PH One PH is a 24/7 Tagalog-language teleradio news channel owned by MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. through Cignal TV. It was soft launched on February 18, 2019 and was officially launched on July 31, 2019, on satellite provider Cignal. It can also be ...
, instead of
One Sports One Sports (formerly ABC Sports from 2004 to 2008, Sports5 from 2011 to 2017 and ESPN5 from 2017 to 2020) is the sports division of TV5 Network, Inc. and jointly-operated with sister company Cignal TV. One Sports supplies and airs major spor ...
because the sports channel had no more available slots. It thus made One PH carry sports program aside from being a
Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Taga ...
news channel. Selected matches are also streamed on league's social networks, including
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
,
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
, and Kumu.


Rules


Game regulations

# FIBA rules


Player eligibility


Player classifications

*Local player – Born to full-blooded Filipinos. *Filipino-foreigners – Filipinos born to at least a parent with foreign heritage regardless where they are born or raised or if they are a holder of a Philippine passport. Only those with a height of less than are eligible to play in the MPBL. *Ex-pros – Players with prior participation in professional leagues such as the
Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...
and the
ASEAN Basketball League The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is a professional men's basketball league in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong/Macau, which includes six teams from Southeast Asian nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), one tea ...
. *Homegrown player – Players who are native to their team's home locality. At least for the 2021 MPBL Invitationals, the Filipino-foreigners height limit for Filipino-foreigners would be lifted.


Team roster limits

:At least three homegrown talents per team :Limit on Filipino-foreigner per team. ::One player per team (2018) ::Two players per team, only one can play at a time (2019–) :Limit on ex-professional (ex-pro) players per team ::Five players per team (2018) ::Seven players per team, five can play at a time (2019–) At least for the 2021 MPBL Invitationals, it was announce that the cap on ex-pros and requirement to field homegrowns will be scrapped.


Commissioners


See also

*
Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...
* NBL * Pilipinas Super League *
Filbasket The Filipino Basketball League, also known as Filbasket, is a professional basketball league founded in 2021 in the Philippines. Its first season was launched on October 28, 2021, featured eleven teams and ran for a period of 26 days. AICC Man ...
*
Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup The Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup, also known as GlobalPort Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball league in the Philippines. The league comprises teams from the Visayas and Mindanao regions of the Ph ...
*
Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 is a professional 3-on-3 basketball league in the Philippines and is organized by the country's national basketball federation, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP). It was formed in 2018 as a bid to get the Phil ...


References

{{Basketball in the Philippines Basketball leagues in the Philippines Sports leagues established in 2017 2017 establishments in the Philippines