VERY soon, the World Men’s Volleyball Championship will get underway. It is the most important competition in the FIVB men’s calendar next to the Olympic Games.
It’s a done deal. We’re committed to hosting this now biennial tournament. But it doesn’t change my misgivings. I dare say it’s a big mistake.
A big P2 billion! That is its expected total cost!
This is money we don’t have and it’s money we shouldn’t spend.
There’s no justification for this event foisted on us to massage the ego of one Ramon “Tats” Suzara, president of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation, who one day simply forgot that we’re not a First World country.
READ Alas' opening FIVB Worlds foe Tunisia left without top scorer
The volleyball championship, which will pit 31 of the world’s best men’s teams, will be held from September 12-28. The Philippines is the 32nd team, and it is there only by virtue of being host, not because it’s among the world’s best.
True, the championship will push the country front and center of the sports world for two weeks. True, it will grab sports headlines here and around the world. And true, local fans will get to watch the best men players in action. Although here again, I think the PNVF also one day simply forgot that, in these parts, the craze is not for men’s teams, it is for women’s volleyball.
Just what is this money I’m agitated about?
Behind this event, touted as good for the country, is, first and foremost, the cost of playing host. It is not cheap.
High cost of hosting
For starters, according to PNVF vice-president Rickie Palou, the country will be paying the FIVB $25 million just for hosting fee alone. That is in US dollars, my countrymen, not pesos. In our currency, that comes up to about P1.4 billion.
That is the kind of money that can finance the operations of a first-class city for a year, maybe even two years, not to mention financing hundreds of schoolrooms and health centers and increasing salaries of public servants. Or, if we want to talk strictly sports, that is money that should go to badly needed national, regional, and provincial sports development.
Instead, that money is now going straight to the coffers of the FIVB, the volleyball federation controlling international volleyball. (For the record, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas paid FIBA $32 million to host the Men’s Basketball World Cup in 2023.)
The 25 million dollars, to repeat, is just the fee we pay for the right to host the event. In other words, the millions needed just to get our foot through the door. On top of this fee, local organizers have to shoulder the expense for accommodations and food of players, coaches, and staff of each of the 32 teams, besides taking care of FIVB officials who must be treated royally.
Again on top of all that, the Philippines has to shoulder the logistics for operating such a global tournament — hiring personnel to attend to all 32 teams, including their transportation requirements, special food for those whose religious affiliations require it, rental for two coliseums, and so on.
Add all this, and the World Games can cost the country at least P2 billion. Maybe more.
Suzara is the same man who, with Alan Peter Cayetano, took part in the Philippines’ hosting job of the Southeast Asian Games in 2019, an event that remains infamous for constructing a cauldron that cost P50 million and used just once.
We ask: Can P2 billion for staging a volleyball championship ever be a fair exchange? This is all we get: face time with a two-week sports event that puts the country in the global sports map, an occurrence that’s expected to be forgotten in just days, when the world moves on to another sports spectacle.
Suzara is not putting up a single centavo for this event, which at this point looks headed for a deficit. According to Palou, the country has yet to pay for the hosting fee and awaits the end of the tournament to meet its obligation.
The bulk of expenses is coming, mark this, from taxpayers. The government, through the PSC, has committed P685 million of our money, sources bared.
And remember, what’s needed is P2 billion. And so, the private sector has been conscripted again. The biggest contributor is the MVP group, reportedly donating P150 million. Three other companies have committed a total of P120 million. San Miguel did not give a cash contribution, but, through its president Ramon Ang, is providing BMW cars for use by FIVB officials, sources added.
Funds for better good
Yet, if these companies hadn’t been made into committing these funds, certainly they would know how to use their own funds for good: their service programs, their educational scholarships, their vocational support, their obligations to communities, provinces, regions. These are goals that big private companies have whole human-resources departments and CSR people planning for years. It’s impossible that the funds were not already headed for elsewhere before they were, so to speak, diverted.
All right, there are other smaller sources of funding: TV rights and gate receipts. The best seats (patron, center) are going for P14,000; patron (back) and lower box (center) are at P12,500 each; and general admission is at P1,500.
But even with these small sources, local organizers only hope to break even.
Perhaps this is the modern Filipino version of old Roman insolence: People clamor for food and clothing, jobs and shelter? That’s easy. Give them lots of circus and never mind the bread.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
