By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
The Philippine National Volleyball Federation Inc. (PNVF) on Wednesday laid down plans for the staging of the Champions League, an event that will draw the best teams from all over the country this year.
In its first official meeting, the federation said it is targeting to hold the tournament in July onwards with the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna or Subic Gymnasium as the venue.
The league would be the first national league owned by the federation, where the top eight club teams – six from NCR, one from Visayas (Cebu or Negros), and one from Mindanao – would compete.
It will be held in four weeks time under a bubble-type setup similar to what the PBA did last year, with 15 playing days and 36 matches. Preliminaries will be a single-round robin, while quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be a knockout affair.
The objective is to unify all volleyball stakeholders through a highly competitive league at the club level, as well as strengthen and sustain the national team program through an alternate yet equally strong platform.
It would also help promote volleyball as a family sport entertainment, help initiate return to volleyball in the local sports scene, and enable other local government units to become more proactive in organizing competition events.
The league also hopes to encourage sustainable programs that could be easily replicated even under varying circumstances, as well as explore other opportunities in venue development, brand development and marketing, broadcast, media, sport presentation and event management.
