Drafts, round robin semifinals, green cards, and more.
Change is coming in the local volleyball scene.
The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is set to hold its inaugural draft selection this June, after the All-Filipino Conference.
League commissioner Sherwin Malonzo announced the development in a press conference held at the Discovery Suites Ortigas on Wednesday.
"Come June, all new players will apply for the draft. That's the transition from amateur or collegiate volleyball, they have to pass through the draft," shared Malonzo.
"Target June, (pero) ayaw ko muna magbigay ng dates kasi we want all the college tournaments to be finished first before tayo mag-draft. Pero 'yan ang target natin probably latter part, also the combine."
The league has yet to finalize the draft guidelines, but stressed that aspirants should be at least 21 years old to be eligible, regardless of educational attainment.
When it comes to determining the draft order, the PVL is looking to hold a lottery for the bottom four teams of the All-Filipino Conference.
"Ang challenge now is ang gusto ng mga boss is dalawang conferences ang basehan, but some teams isang conference lang laro. We’ll just create a formula based on that. And siguro parang sneak peek, we’re also considering a lottery sa bottom four, not because nag-number 12 ka eh automatic first draft ka. Hindi, 'yung bottom four may lottery ka. Although 'yung number 12 will get a better chance of getting the first pick," Malonzo explained.
The draft selection would ensure parity and competitiveness among participating clubs, which resonates with league president Ricky Palou's long-term goal of implementing a financial cap on players' salaries and bonuses.
"We'd really like to install a salary cap on the salaries and bonuses of the players. The way things are going now is ang feeling namin is everything is getting out of hand. At the end of the day, it would be the teams that will be having difficulties in maintaining their own team," noted Palou.
"So we'd really like to put every team on a reasonable level. We are preparing some guidelines on what will go in the salary cap and we will present those to teams since we want to get their inputs also."
The PVL is also putting a premium on the quality of competition as it rolls out a single round robin format in the All-Filipino Conference — a style implemented in the past two Invitational Conferences and the last Reinforced Conference.
In this setup, the top four teams in the preliminaries will face off in the round robin semifinals to get the top two slots.
"Best of the best ang kailangan mangyari talagang pumasok ka sa Finals hindi dahil nakatsamba ka kung hindi talagang gusto mo manalo," stated Malonzo.
He added: "Ang dinagdag lang namin unlike before na after the round robin eh top two, bottom two, may playoff lang. Para naman may opportunity kapag nag-triple tie, tie nga eh, at least makasingit kung sino dapat maglaro for gold or sino babagsak sa bronze."
Furthermore, the season-opening conference will also bring about several format changes, which include the return of the eighth and 16th point technical timeouts, along with two timeouts per set.
The league is also prohibiting teams from conducting discussions during video challenges, which prevents coaches from using the system to substitute timeouts.
When it comes to rewarding fair play, the PVL is keen to use green cards, which will award players who admit to game violations. This system was put to the test in the PNVF Champions League.