By Lyka Jazmin Dela Cruz, John Raphael Mendoza and James Emmanuel Santua
Filipino Basketball League (Filbasket), the country’s newest basketball league, is on its way to becoming official with an aim to contribute to the improvement of the sport.
Founder Jai Reyes, a former PBA player and Ateneo Blue Eagle, formed the league with the purpose of giving jobs to basketball players who were laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview with Mikee Reyes’ YouTube channel, Jai discussed that he created Filbasket to give opportunities to everybody to make a living or career out of Filbasket and thought that it will be a good business opportunity, which will allow him to have a restart and give people more job opportunities in the middle of the pandemic.
“So this is basically a startup, gusto ko lang talaga buuin for everybody para satin lahat dahil it’s not just the players, the coaches that will be given the opportunity and platform to make a living or a career out of Filbasket,” he said in the podcast.
“Gusto ko talagang mag re-start para makapagbigay ng trabaho sa lahat ng tao so this is for everybody. Sa tagal ko sa industriya ng basketball nadala niya ako sa other countries, it gave me so many opportunities. This is also one way of giving back and I think business-wise is also a good opportunity,” he said.
Reyes also wants the whole basketball community to be more inclusive, allowing players from different levels to participate in Filbasket competitions. He hopes for some Filbasket teams to join international tournaments once established.
“I think for us it’s a positive that somebody from Filbasket and talents from all over the world get to play in our league and maybe hopefully, we get to play in other international tournaments. One thing for sure, we want to make the whole basketball community more inclusive at mas magtulungan dahil at the end of the day, it’s the fans and the players who will benefit from that kapag naglalaro sa international competitions,”
With Reyes being able to explore the different basketball situations around the world, he expressed that his experiences playing abroad shaped his ideas in forming the league and wanted to make it into existence in the Philippines.
“Filbasket was really formed because of all my experiences, I really want to bring here everything I saw around the world,” he added.
FilBasket is also planning to have teams that are city-based and are targeting to form 10 to 12 teams at the moment.
He also said that Filbasket will not have limits when it comes to acquiring players, whether you’re an ex-pro or a player from college, you can join the league. However, for college players, once they want to join the league, it is still the decision of their respective universities if they would allow the students to participate.
Reyes is hopeful that Filbasket will have a go signal as early as next year to bring new hope for other basketball players and to provide a new flavor for the fans.
“Hopefully, makapag-start next year ng mahabang season talaga that’s something na gusto naming gawin city based or regional or province based and then mayroong mga home courts, so we get to bring the games to the fans here all over the Philippines,” he said.
