IT’S now up to 20.
On Tuesday night, officials of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League accepted the application of three more expansion teams—Marikina, Mandaluyong and Pasay—making the number of teams to 20.
This also means the expansion of teams from Luzon is now close, according to MPBL commissioner Kenneth Duremdes.
The league, however, will open its doors to potential new squads in the Visayas and Mindanao as officials make their push with a meeting tomorrow, Friday, at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu.
Four teams—two each from Cebu and Davao—had already confirmed participation. Davao Occidental and Davao City committed to attend the meeting as well as Lapu-Lapu City and Cebu City.
As early as last week, Marikina, thru head coach Elvis Tolentino, who previously handled Navotas, expressed his group’s interest of forming a team from the “Shoe Capital of the Philippines.”
Pasay will use the Cuneta Astrodome, a government-owned facility, to be used as homecourt of its basketball team.
The MPBL will open its next conference on June 12 and with more teams joining, there would be an additional day and time slot in the game schedules.