PVL schedules Rookie Draft

The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is set to hold its inaugural Rookie Draft on 6 July, a landmark event designed to bolster team rosters with fresh talent and enhance the league’s competitive balance.

The process will allow the 12 member teams to select players who have not previously competed in the league with the order of selection determined by a lottery for the first round and a reverse ranking based on the recently concluded All-Filipino Conference (AFC) standings for subsequent rounds.

Since Strong Group emerged as the worst-performing team in the AFC, it will have a 40-percent chance of nabbing the first pick in the lottery scheduled on 24 June, followed by Capital1 (30 percent), Galeries (20 percent), and Farm Fresh (10 percent).

Teams ranked eighth to first in the AFC will pick fifth to 12th in descending order. The second and subsequent rounds will follow the reverse order of the AFC standings with the team having the worst record picking first.

The teams are ranked as follows: Creamline, Choco Mucho, Petro Gazz, Chery Tiggo, PLDT, Cignal, Akari, Nxled, Farm Fresh, Galeries Tower, Capital1 and Strong Group.

One of the draft’s primary goals is to prevent bidding wars between teams for players, promoting a fairer acquisition process while the draft lottery is intended to discourage tanking or deliberately losing games to secure a higher draft pick, by not automatically awarding the top pick to the worst-performing team.

“Drafts are the great equalizer in pro leagues. This season, we will hold our first-ever draft with guidelines influenced by some of the top leagues in the world,” PVL commissioner Sherwin Malonzo said.

“We are hoping for a huge turnout for the inaugural class of the PVL draft. This is an exciting moment for our league as we take a significant step forward in elevating the level of competition and providing more opportunities for talented athletes.”

Before the lottery and the draft itself, the league will conduct a Combine from 25 to 26 June.