PVL to hold rookie draft, implement salary cap next year
Published Jun 17, 2023 10:45 am
The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) will be taking steps to improve the competition and even the playing field among club teams.
With the Invitational Conference kicking off on June 27, PVL President Ricky Palou revealed that the league will finally hold a rookie draft and implement a salary cap in the name of parity starting next year.
“We are definitely going to have a draft system next year so that the lowest ranked teams will be able to get the better players that are coming into the league,” Palou said in former Philippine Sports Commission chairman Noli Eala’s program Power and Play on Saturday, June 17.
“For player movements, we are saying that if you draft a player, you’ve got to keep this player at least for two years,” Palou explained.
*PVL President Ricky Palou. (PVL Images)*
The mid year-conference will see a number of collegiate standouts who have decided to turn pro through the Special Guest License granted by the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) or by simply forgoing their remaining years of eligibility in the UAAP or NCAA. This, however, continues to create a huge gap between club teams who can afford to pay any amount to certain players and those who are financially limited. The PVL official has said that he is in the process of convincing club teams to have an individual cap, but they are advocating for a team cap instead. “We can have a team cap but it would be important also to have a salary cap for players and a rookie cap for players,” he said. “Based on what I hear, P400,000, may pa-kotse pa. Nagugulat nga ako. I’m telling everybody, this is getting out of hand. We have to do something to level the playing field." As it stands, some of the biggest franchises in the league seemed to have already won the recruitment battle this conference as many of the players they recently signed are from collegiate champion teams. “No one is complaining that this team is too strong. Right now, everybody’s fine with how things are going. That’s why we’d like to come out with all these new things, the salary cap, the trading, so at the end of the day everybody will be happy. We don’t want teams complaining,” he said. With the addition of three new teams, which Palou expects to stay in the long run, an all-time high record of 11 teams will be vying for the title this conference, with two foreign guest teams joining in the semifinals. Palou is also looking to introduce a second division in the PVL for emerging players. The league has yet to announce the guidelines for these changes including the draft, but will likely enforce a strict no-trade rule. “As the years go by, we see all the teams improving, up their playing level, and be competitive against each other. These are the things we’re looking at right now,” he added.
*PVL President Ricky Palou. (PVL Images)*
The mid year-conference will see a number of collegiate standouts who have decided to turn pro through the Special Guest License granted by the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) or by simply forgoing their remaining years of eligibility in the UAAP or NCAA. This, however, continues to create a huge gap between club teams who can afford to pay any amount to certain players and those who are financially limited. The PVL official has said that he is in the process of convincing club teams to have an individual cap, but they are advocating for a team cap instead. “We can have a team cap but it would be important also to have a salary cap for players and a rookie cap for players,” he said. “Based on what I hear, P400,000, may pa-kotse pa. Nagugulat nga ako. I’m telling everybody, this is getting out of hand. We have to do something to level the playing field." As it stands, some of the biggest franchises in the league seemed to have already won the recruitment battle this conference as many of the players they recently signed are from collegiate champion teams. “No one is complaining that this team is too strong. Right now, everybody’s fine with how things are going. That’s why we’d like to come out with all these new things, the salary cap, the trading, so at the end of the day everybody will be happy. We don’t want teams complaining,” he said. With the addition of three new teams, which Palou expects to stay in the long run, an all-time high record of 11 teams will be vying for the title this conference, with two foreign guest teams joining in the semifinals. Palou is also looking to introduce a second division in the PVL for emerging players. The league has yet to announce the guidelines for these changes including the draft, but will likely enforce a strict no-trade rule. “As the years go by, we see all the teams improving, up their playing level, and be competitive against each other. These are the things we’re looking at right now,” he added.