By Cedelf P. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA—In another clear indication of football’s rapid rise in the country, the United Football League will now have its games aired live on television for the first time starting next season.
The country’s premiere league based in Manila has agreed to a five-year, P150 million television deal with TV5, the television station owned by business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan, which is also airing the Philippine Basketball Association games starting next season.
A reliable source said the league will receive P20 million in cash every year during the duration of the deal and P10 million worth of advertising promotions annually for the UFL.
The deal will pave the way for at least two UFL matches to be aired live on Saturdays, the league source said. “That’s the initial agreement, but there might be more games to be aired live depending on the schedule,” said the source.
The coverage, the same source said, will start with the quarterfinals of the UFL Cup scheduled to kick off in October with close to 50 teams expected to see action. The UFL season is expected to start in January.
The UFL first division will expand to 10 teams this season with two more teams joining league champion Air Force, Global FC, Kaya-Cignal, Army, Loyola-Meralco, Green Archers, Navy and Nomads, which ruled the second division to earn promotion.
The two teams will be determined depending on the results of the UFL Cup.
Among the members of the national team playing in the UFL are Azkals skipper Aly Borromeo, Anton del Rosario, Nate Burkey, Jason Sabio and Yannick Tuason, who are members of Kaya, Misagh Bahadoran and Angel Guirado, who are teammates at Global, Ian Araneta and Chieffy Caligdong, who play for Air Force, and Army players Roel Gener, Eduard Sacapano and Nestorio Margarse.
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7 hours ago
i think its not ideal deal,only two games to be aired?,,and then same station with PBA,it can hamper the growth of philippine football, because most of the games the will be airing is basketball,maybe kung sa channel 13 nila ipapalabas mas okay pa,,,,o kaya dapat sa studio 23 na lang,not wise move or ufl..
ReplyDeleteMaybe ur right. Pero ok na rin ang deal na to kesa wala. Cguro dadagdagan naman nila ang games kung magiging positive response ng mga fans. Suportahan na lang natin.....
ReplyDeletethis is really a good start for our premiere league football to be more establish and more stable... and in this league we can have more development for our national team...
ReplyDeleteBEGGARS ARE NOT CHOOSERS! ISIPIN MO NA MAS MALAKI CGURO ANG IBINIGAY NA DEAL NG TV5 KAY SA STUDIO23 KAYA GANUN.
ReplyDeleteSana makahanap ng ibang sponsors ang mga weaker teams para maka sign sila ng malaking players para pumantay ang level ng competition.
ReplyDeletePasalamat nalang tayo kay MP atleast malaking tulong ang ginawa nya.20M per year malaking halaga na din yan kahit wala na ngang bayad ang importante makita nang mga pinoy kung ano ang UFL.God Bless! sir Manny Pangilinan.
ReplyDeleteThis probably means that they are going to become a full professional league soon. As a consequence of this, the Younghusbands who have said that they will not join a local league until it turns professional has finally signed up with a local UFL team, Loyola FC Meralco, which already has their fellow Fil British Portsmouth Academy grads Hartmann brothers I believe.
ReplyDeleteThis along with the signing of Fil Spanish Angel Guirado(formerly of Atletico Madrid B) with Global, and the addition of other Fil American players and other foreigners to other clubs in the league heralds a new era for professional football in the country, the dawning of the first full professional sports league outside of basketball.
My guess is in the years to come, many Filipino footballers who are currently playing overseas will eventually end up in the Philippines as the emergence of a domestic professional league will allow them to continue or extend their careers there and possibly rise to the managerial ranks as well.
The fact that TV 5 won the contract will also allow their TV affiliate overseas, TFC, to air the UFL games for the benefit of the millions of Filipinos abroad, many of whom are contributing their children to the national team.
ReplyDeleteTFC->TV 5 ur joking right, The Filipino Channel (TFC) is the international arm of ABS-CBN Corp., popularity-wise mas maganda sana move kung sa ABS cla through Studio 23 kc we must admit na sumisikat talaga yung kina-cover ng istasyon na to not to mention the many media coverage the station gives to the players.....yun sana importante kc yun ang bubuhay sa kamalayan ng football sa pinas for the mean time.....sayng rin kc ABS kc may pinakamalaking coverage s pinas at overseas=/ wellat least may sumusuporta pa rin sa azkals.
ReplyDeletedba tv-5 rin yung ng-cover sa jones cup of smart gilas phil. pero kahit naka-3rd place cla ay parang hindi yata napag-usapan. Lessons learned dapat pumili talaga ng isang TV station na magaling mg-promote ng mga laro na kinover nila.
ReplyDeletePinag usapan naman.kaya lang sawa na din ang pinoy sa resulta nang basketball team natin.UFL kukunin nang ABS CBN your joking. Hindi susugal ang ABS CBN sa leauge na eto marami silang priority na sports.
ReplyDeleteUFL is just based in Metro Manila. This will be another PBA. I just hope the national club football tournament will not lose steam.
ReplyDeleteAs of now, the national club tournament is far away from the UFL, and i honestly think it will stay that way. If the UFL continue to grow and getting more popular, time will come that the national club tournament will be gone, specially if the UFL will expand to the rest of the country, something i hope will happen in the future.
ReplyDeleteI asked before, is the UFL really ready to become a fully professional league? How many fields do they have in disposal, are the sponsors ready to dish out huge salaries to players, specially to those coming from abroad and wanting to play in the UFL. Are they ready for the economical increase of becoming a professional league? Meaning that, when its a professional league, the players wouldnt have to work, playing football will be their source of income, that puts food on the table for them and their families. And i dont mean getting allowance to ride the jeepney and aftergame snack. Are they really ready for this? I know its been tried before to start professional leagues in Manila with no success, only different now is that the sport is popular and there are big corporate sponsors involved, but that doesnt mean they want to shell out big amounts to the players.