AIMING to reach basketball fans all over the country, Anta Philippines knew exactly that the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League is the organization to tap.
The Chinese sports brand and the local league just formalized a partnership deal through a contract-signing on Sunday night at the Anta Megamall branch. This makes the brand the official outfitter of MPBL for good two years.
Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes graced the event alongside Anta general manager JP Paglinawan.
“What attracted us to MPBL is its reach to the provinces, it’s a fit to our strategy as a brand that’s expanding. Just like the NBA, MPBL’s going around. We wanted to reach those markets, and they’re already there,” Paglinawan told SPIN.ph.
Paglinawan also shared that the collaboration came ‘natural’ through the help of the league founder Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who is a global ambassador of the brand since 2016.
The boxing legend was supposed to represent the brand in the event, but had to beg off last minute.
“On behalf of our founder, we’d like to thank Anta Philippines for the partnership. Suportahan po natin ang ating rising stars, ang ating future basketball stars, hopefully the league will grow more with Anta as our partner,” Duremdes said.
While no financial terms were disclosed publicly, Anta assured they’d provide uniforms for MPBL teams.
Already with 19 stores nationwide, Anta is penciled to unravel 31 more before the end of the year, naming a 360-squaremeter branch in Cebu as its flagship store.
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