East Asia Super League (EASL) Chief Operation Officer Henry Kerins. Photo from Rom Anzures, ABS-CBN News.

Romwel Anzures

ABS-CBN News

<div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);min-height:13.8px"><span></span><strong><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1727881390557IMG_5193.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="East Asia Super League (EASL) Chief Operation Officer Henry Kerins. Photo from Rom Anzures, ABS-CBN News."/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">East Asia Super League (EASL) Chief Operation Officer Henry Kerins. <em>Photo from Rom Anzures, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></strong></div><p>MANILA — The East Asia Super League (EASL) had a stellar opening for its 2024-2025 Season on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.</p><p>The Meralco Bolts imposed their might on the Macau Black Bears in a dominant win to close out the game day, while the San Miguel Beermen fell short of stunning Suwon KT Sonicboom in the curtain raiser.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/10/2/san-miguel-turned-back-by-suwon-kt-in-easl-opening-2020">READ: San Miguel turned back by Suwon KT in EASL opening</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/10/2/chris-newsome-allen-durham-power-meralco-to-easl-opener-win-against-macau-2223">READ: Chris Newsome, Allen Durham power Meralco to EASL opener win against Macau</a></div><p>This is a promising start as since their participation in the young regional league in 2018, the PBA squads have only a total of 9-25 record, with San Miguel, Meralco, and TNT Tropang Giga falling short of finding their groove in the EASL.</p><p>But despite this showing, EASL CEO Henry Kerins said that they remain committed to helping the PBA bring the best out of its top squads and best players. </p><p>&quot;The PBA is our partner, it&#x27;s always been our partner,&quot; he said during a press conference in MOA. &quot;They are doing a lot of creative and innovative things this season  and I think they&#x27;re going to do a lot more going forward.&quot;</p><p>Kerins shared that they have a lot of discussions with Asia&#x27;s first pay-for-play league, and these will be among the priorities of their relationship with the PBA moving forward. </p><p>&quot;Our partnership and our plans are all with the PBA, and in terms of how that develops, whether expansion teams that they have or whether guest teams that they have or whether we add more teams, I think you&#x27;ll see more stuff to come,&quot; he bared.</p><p>But aside from the PBA, does the EASL have any plans to expand its partnership with other leagues in the country much like the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League?</p><p>&quot;There were no exploratory talks,&quot; emphasized Kerins. &quot;We obviously have an enormous amount of respect for Manny Pacquiao, he&#x27;s the epitome of the Asian hero that we try to elevate. That&#x27;s a Filipino athlete, that&#x27;s a global name and we want to do that in basketball.&quot;</p><p>&quot;But in terms of our agreement with both FIBA and the Philippines, it&#x27;s with the PBA.  Of course, enormous respect for MBPL, what they&#x27;ve done and what they&#x27;ve created —and a lot of other leagues in the Philippines, not just MBPL.&quot;</p><p>&quot;But in terms of our vision and our strategy, it&#x27;s only with the PBA. These are franchises that have been around for almost 50 years, and obviously, the PBA is celebrating its anniversary coming up. That legacy, that  sort of history, that&#x27;s priceless.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Those are things that you can&#x27;t replace,  whether it&#x27;s going back to [Robert] Jaworski or going even further back to El Presidente [Ramon Fernandez]. I mean, these are things that you can&#x27;t recreate. So I think for us, being with the PBA is an honor, and expanding on that relationship is something that we&#x27;re discussing,&quot; he added.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i-sdohYEWMw?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The East Asia Super League (EASL) had a stellar opening for its 2024-2025 Season on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.</p>

The East Asia Super League (EASL) had a stellar opening for its 2024-2025 Season on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Will we see MPBL teams in the EASL soon? CEO Henry Kerins answers | ABS-CBN

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Will we see MPBL teams in the EASL soon? CEO Henry Kerins answers

Rom Anzures,

ABS-CBN News

Published Oct 03, 2024 02:02 AM PHT

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