‘The league currently is not yet ready for free agency so we’ll have the right of first refusal.’
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PVL PVL president Ricky Palou wants to guarantee that games will be competitive by implementing a salary cap.
The Premier Volleyball League is mulling the implementation of salary cap and for clubs to have the right of first refusal to ensure parity in recruitment of players.
PVL president Ricky Palou told DAILY TRIBUNE on Friday that aside from the planned first-ever rookie draft, the country's first and only women's professional volleyball league will introduce other measures to keep a level playing field.
The development came on the height of a raging arms race of clubs with just a little over a month before the season-opening tournament hostilities fires off on 17 February.
Big named players including those coming from dissolved F2 Logistics as well as sister teams Creamline and Choco Mucho have been transferring from one club to another in a thrilling recruitment spree that added more spice to an already exciting edition of the PVL.
Palou said that the league is currently finalizing a draft of its new rules and will be presented to the teams by early February.
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"First of all we're formalizing the salary cap," said Palou, who has a vast experience in team and player dealings in the pro ranks after serving as an official in the Philippine Basketball Association.
He explained that a salary cap would protect clubs with modest resources from having their prized players from getting poached by much more moneyed teams once their contracts expired.
"So if a player has an expiring contract and has been presented an offer by another club, her current team will have the right of first refusal," Palou said.
"The league currently is not yet ready for free agency so we'll have the right of first refusal."
The official added that having a salary cap would prevent an uncontrolled bidding war for blue-chip players every end of the season.
"So the salary cap is important. If we don't have that it will turn into a bidding race and we don't want that," Palou said.
"If we don't have that, the moneyed teams will be buying big-named players. That would put other teams with lesser resources at a disadvantage."
The PVL is also looking at rules that will bar sister teams from trading players outright.
Six-time champion Creamline has acquired Choco Mucho's Bea De Leon and Denden Lazaro-Revilla in a blockbuster transfer.
Other franchises with two clubs are Akari and Nxled while the Manny Pangilina group has Cignal and PLDT. Farm Fresh, on the other hand, is also reportedly forming a sister team to be ready this season.
"It's included in our draft system rules that we'll not allow sister teams to trade. Even the conduits, we won't allow that," Palou said.
"Right now, we still don't have that so we're drafting all these rules to make it safe for everybody."
"Our tournament director (Sherwin Malonzo), who serves as our commissioner, will be looking into all these trades and transfers."
The PVL earlier bared its plans for a rookie draft slated in June or July.
