The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines consisting of 29 teams. 

The league was launched on August 29, 2017 by Manny Pacquiao, originally as a semi-professional league. According to Pacquiao, the league is not intended to be a competitor to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), the country's top professional basketball league. The MPBL was intended to feature both the regional commercial and barangay-level league, with teams on the commercial side to have a home locality in addition to a corporate sponsor. The league was given professional status on December 9, 2021. The league's youth-oriented counterpart, the Junior MPBL, began its inaugural season on July 9, 2023. A volleyball counterpart called the Maharlika Pilipinas Volleyball Association (MPVA) is slated to begin in October 2023.

Four different teams have won the league championship, with the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards being the current defending champions, beating the Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines 3-1 in the 2022 MPBL Finals.

History

Semi-professional era (2018–2021)

During its first year, the league hosted teams from Luzon with future plans to expand to Visayas and Mindanao like the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association. It was planned that an expanded MPBL will have two divisions, North and South, where the best team from both divisions will face in a finals series similar to the format of the National Basketball Association in North America. The league was planned to start as early as September 23, 2017 with at least six teams. A pre-season tournament was held with the Bulacan Kuyas finishing as champions.

The MPBL began its first season on January 25, 2018, and included ten teams, all based in Luzon. Teams are required to have at least three homegrown players in their roster. In the opening game at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, the Parañaque Patriots secured a 70–60 victory over the Caloocan Supremos. The playoffs only features eight teams due to its small size at the time, as the Batangas City Athletics were crowned as the league's inaugural champions when they defeated the Muntinlupa Cagers in the 2018 MPBL Finals.

In the 2018–19 season, the league expanded to 26 teams, adding 16 expansion teams to the league. After ten expansion teams from Luzon were admitted into the league, it closed its doors so that it could leave room for future Visayas and Mindanao teams. The North and South Divisions were introduced and the playoff format was changed to accommodate 16 teams. The league also placed roster restrictions on teams, only allowing one Filipino-foreigner and up to five ex-professional players. The San Juan Knights then became the 2019 champions, beating the Davao Occidental Tigers.

The 2019–20 season featured 31 teams participating in the league, the most the league had in its history, adding six expansion teams but also saw its first departing team, the Mandaluyong El Tigre. Roster restrictions were also relaxed, allowing more Filipino-foreigners and ex-professional players to play in the league. In December 2019, Chooks-to-Go of Bounty Agro Ventures became the title sponsor of the league under a five-year deal.

COVID-19 disruption

The 2019–20 season was postponed on March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after the second game of the Divisional Finals. Nearly one year later, the league resumed play for the final games of the playoffs on March 10, 2021 through a bubble in Subic. Davao Occidental beat San Juan in a rematch of last season's Finals to become the 2020 champions. Because of the long delay, the 2020–21 season was cancelled altogether. In October 2021, Chooks-to-Go took over the operations of the league.

Professional era and further expansion (2021–present)
On November 9, 2021, it was announced that the MPBL will turn into a professional league. A month later, on December 9, 2021, the MPBL was granted professional status by the Games and Amusements Board (GAB). The league's first professional event was the 2021 Invitational, which was the first preseason tournament under the Invitational label. During the Invitational, all roster restrictions were lifted. The Basilan Jumbo Plastic became the Invitational champions and also won a prize pot of two million pesos.

This is followed by the 2022 season, which featured 22 of the 31 teams from the previous season. The season marked a new sponsorship with sports betting platform OKBet, making them the title sponsor. On October 10, 2022, Kyt Jimenez of the Sarangani Marlins became the first player in league history to record a quadruple-double. The Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards went undefeated in the regular season and subsequently became the 2022 champions, winning against the Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines.

The 2023 season features 29 teams, including two expansion teams and five returning teams. The 2023 Preseason Invitational was held in General Santos featuring eight teams, among those teams is the first guest team in the league, General Santos-based Bulalakaw. Zamboanga won the preseason tournament, beating Nueva Ecija. On June 3, 2023, Jeff Viernes of the Sarangani Marlins recorded the league's first 50-point game.

On June 15, 2023, the Junior MPBL was unveiled by Pacquiao in a press conference. The youth-oriented league's inaugural season began on July 9, 2023 and features 22 teams, all competing in under-14, under-16, and under-18 divisions. In the same press conference, Pacquiao also shared intent to create a volleyball counterpart similar to the MPBL that will cater to female players. The league will be called the Maharlika Pilipinas Volleyball Association (MPVA) and is expected to start in October 2023 with at least eight teams, with the possibility of a men's division in 2024.

Teams

During its first season in 2018, the MPBL had ten teams entering the league, all based in Luzon. Since then, it has expanded into Visayas and Mindanao. In the 2023 season, there are 29 teams participating in the league.

Teams are usually owned by their respective local governments and backed by team sponsors. Team names can change as a result of managerial and/or sponsorship changes.

Current teams

 Notes

  Only arenas used during the 2023 season are shown here. This list will be updated as games are played throughout the season. For the full list, see List of Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League arenas.
  The Pasig City MCW Sports, San Juan Knights and Sarangani Marlins were founded during the active years of Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA).
  The Lagao Gymnasium was used to host the 2023 MPBL Preseason Invitational
  The GenSan Warriors were founded in 2005 as the GenSan MP PacMan Warriors of the Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA).
  The Quezon Huskers were founded in 2004 as the Quezon Coco Huskers of the United Regional Basketball League (URBL).
  The Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines were founded in 2018 as the MPBL side of the Zamboanga Valientes. In 2019, the team was relaunched and split from the Valientes.

Former teams

 Notes

  Basilan also participated in the 2021 Invitational.
  Although identified as being based in Davao Occidental, the team played all of its home games across Davao Region, but not within the province itself.

Timeline

Junior MPBL teams

 Notes

  The Mindoro Junior Disiplinados entered the 2023 Junior MPBL season as the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo before relocating to Mindoro shortly after the opening ceremonies. The team, however, remains in the North Division.

Roster regulations 
There is no draft held during the off-season, instead, teams acquire their players through the signing of contracts. However, there is a set of roster regulations, putting restrictions on which and how many players each team can place onto its roster. The regulations have changed over time to allow more players to join the league.

As of 2023, these regulations are as follows:

 Teams must have a minimum of 15 players and a maximum of 24 players.
 All local players are eligible to play in the league – naturally-born Filipino citizens.
 Each team must have at least three homegrown players on the roster – local players who are native to their team's home locality.
 Each team is limited to seven ex-PBA players – players with prior participation in the Philippine Basketball Association.
 Each team is limited to five collegiate players – players must be given a Special Guest License from the Games and Amusement Board.
 Each team is limited to two Filipino-foreigner players – Filipinos of foreign descent; players must be a holder of a Philippine passport.

Season format

Preseason

Before the regular season begins, an invitational tournament is held as part of the preseason. The tournament is divided into two phases: the group stage and the playoff tournament. In the group stage, the participating teams are divided into multiple groups, where each team will play against their group opponents once. The top two teams of each group advance to a single-elimination playoff tournament, with cash prizes awaiting the top teams.

Regular season

The season opens with the opening ceremonies, which typically includes various performances and a muse contest between various teams.

The regular season uses a single-round robin format, similar to the format of the PBA, where each team plays against all of the other teams once. The teams are divided into the North and South Divisions, although it doesn't have any impact on the regular season schedule and is only used for the purpose of playoff seeding. In each gameday, a series of games is played in a team's homecourt, but not all games feature the host team, making them neutral-site games. Two or three games are usually played in each gameday, with the final game often featuring the host team. Occasionally, the league schedules an Invasion series, where all games are played within a single area, either locally or internationally.

Near the end of the regular season, the league holds its seasonal All-Star Game. Two teams representing the North and South Divisions are composed of thirteen players from each division, all of whom are declared as the season's all-stars. Alongside the All-Star Game are the various festivities held at the same day, including:
 Executives Game: an exhibition game where only league executives and team staff play.
 Three-Point Shootout: an event where players must shoot as many three-pointers as possible from five different points around the court.
 Slam Dunk Contest: an event where players show off their dunking skills to earn the highest score possible.
The league uses the standard FIBA rules for all games. Since 2022, teams are ranked by the number of wins, not winning percentage.

Playoffs
Since the 2018–19 season, top eight teams in each division advance to the playoffs and are seeded into a single-elimination bracket consisting of four rounds. Should there be any ties, the league uses the standard FIBA tiebreaker criteria:
 Head-to-head record between tied teams
 Head-to-head point differential between tied teams
 Head-to-head points scored between tied teams
 Overall point differential
 Overall points scored

Once a team is eliminated from a tiebreaker, the criteria resets back to the first step for the remaining teams.

The first three rounds – First Round, Division Semifinals, and Division Finals – are played in a best-of-three series, while the fourth and final round – the National Finals – is played in a best-of-five series.

The league uses a different homecourt advantage system, specifically for the first two rounds. In the First Round, only the top four teams can host gamedays. In the Division Semifinals, only the top two remaining teams can host gamedays. The Division Finals and National Finals both use traditional 1-1-1 and 2-2-1 formats, respectively, to determine homecourt advantage.

Trophies are given out to the winning team of each Division Finals series and the National Finals, with the winning team of the National Finals also being declared as the season's champions. During the National Finals, the league also gives out its end-of-season awards to the best players in various categories, including the regular season Most Valuable Player. The best player of the National Finals also given the Finals Most Valuable Player after the conclusion of the series.

Championships

Six teams have appeared in the league's championship series, with San Juan and Davao Occidental both appearing twice. Four teams have each won the championship once.

Media coverage
The MPBL employs its own broadcast team for all games, with the broadcast feed and commentary shared across all platforms. This centralized model is similar to the defunct Philippine Basketball League.

ABS-CBN and Fox Sports (2018–2021)
On January 11, 2018, it was announced that ABS-CBN and its sports division would be the first television broadcasters in the league. These games were broadcast on ABS-CBN, S+A, Liga, and its various regional stations in the Philippines, while The Filipino Channel broadcast the games for international markets. In addition, Fox Sports Asia also held the broadcast rights for Monday games until the 2018–19 season.

For streaming, the league began broadcasting all games on its Facebook page starting in 2018. ABS-CBN's streaming service iWantTFC first held the streaming rights from 2019 until 2022.

The broadcast rights were left in jeopardy when ABS-CBN's franchise was expired on May 4, 2020, which led to the dissolution of its sports division on August 31, 2020. Despite that, the network continued to broadcast games through A2Z, formed through a partnership agreement with ZOE TV, when the 2020 playoffs resumed.

IBC and TAP DMV (2021)
Due to the lack of ABS-CBN's franchise, the league had to award the broadcast rights to another network ahead of the then-upcoming 2022 season. Prior to that, IBC acquired the television broadcast rights for the 2021 Invitational, with TAP DMV's TAP Go acquiring the streaming rights.

Cignal TV and Bola.TV (2022–present)
In the 2022 season, Cignal TV took over as the league's main broadcast partner. One PH airs the last game of each game day, typically using a delayed telecast. One Sports+ also broadcasts a selection of preseason games. In the following season, Media Pilipinas TV (MPTV) began broadcasting games in April 2023.

The league also expanded its streaming portfolio during this time, as it began broadcasting on its respective Youtube and Kumu pages in 2022. To go alongside Cignal's television rights, Cignal Play began streaming all games. Bola.TV would later join in August 2023, which also allows its streamers to co-stream the main broadcast feed with their own commentary.

Commissioners

See also
 List of Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League champions
 Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League records
 Philippine Basketball Association
 National Basketball League (Philippines)
 Pilipinas Super League
 Filbasket
 Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup
 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3

References

 
Basketball leagues in the Philippines
Sports leagues established in 2017
2017 establishments in the Philippines