PVL-PSL merger hopes vanish after PVL’s decision to turn pro

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

It seems like the volleyball community won’t get what they want regarding the ultimate plan of merging the Philippine Superliga (PSL) and the Premier Volleyball League (PVL).

Recently, the PVL announced its decision of turning professional, leaving PSL under the semi-professional category in the volleyball league.

The PVL is proposing its grand comeback in 2021 as a pro-league and already changed some of its formats from their semi-pro status.

For Ricky Palou, president of the PVL, the Unity Cup or the merger of both volleyball leagues in the country would be difficult by now following PVL’s transition.

Palou also added that before, both parties already came to an agreement and were close of pushing Unity Cup but the other camp wanted all teams to participate wherein Palou and the PVL wanted only the top 4 teams of both leagues to participate.

“What we wanted was we have the four top teams compete in a tournament but the other side wanted all teams from both leagues to participate. We felt like this was going to be too long. That’s sixteen teams playing in a round-robin. That’s going to take three to four months to finish if we play thrice a week,” explained Palou.

With PSL not yet certain about turning professional in the near future, the Unity Cup would remain as one volleyball merger that the Filipinos still would not witness.