Pacquiao launching volleyball tournament

Filipino boxing icon and Senator Manny Pacquiao is cooking up a new women's volleyball league aimed at bringing the sport closer to the fans.

Interested team owners have banded together to form the Maharlika Pilipinas Volleyball Association which serves as the backbone of a localized and community-based league.

The group along with Pacquiao have already sat down for initial talks with a team that has an impressive resume in organizing successful volleyball tournaments about putting up a league similar to the highly successful Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.

An unimpeachable source privy to the development told Daily Tribune that the yet-to-be-formally-named league will showcase teams representing cities and provinces with private partners.

"It is a league featuring LGU (local government unit)-based club teams. It's not purely amateur and not professional. It means teams could be composed of community, school, or regular volleyball players," the source said.

The MPVA will run the league while a group led by Dr. Ian Laurel, the same team that organizes Shakey's Super League, will handle the technical side.

As an initial offering, the MPVA plans to stage an Invitational tournament tentatively scheduled to run from October until the first week of December.

"Initially, the launching project of this endeavor is an Invitational (tournament). We're talking about eight to 12 teams," the source added.

"Most of these teams are the same clubs that have men's basketball squads playing in the MPBL."

The league will follow the same MPBL blueprint where one of the basic requirements is for each team to have homegrown players – residents of the city or province they represent – beefed up by additional guest players.

Teams must also have a home court as the league will follow a home-and-away format.

"The league's structure is to give players outside of commercial leagues and schools a chance to showcase their talents," the source said.

"Another requirement is for each team to have its own home court. The league is looking to have teams host at least two home games."

After its inaugural tournament, the MPVA is exploring having a men's division by 2024.

"But the full implementation will be next year with the men's and women's divisions. Senator Manny also wants it to run like the NBA so it will have a long conference," the source said.

The MPVA is still deliberating on the official name of the league pending legal processes.