THE foiled merger of Petro Gazz and Nxled emerged as one of the most talked-about storylines of the PVL offseason.
When the unprecedented move fell through, majority of the former Angels eventually landed with the Chameleons, as Petro Gazz itself stepped back from league competition.
READ: Nxled officially lays foundation for future with BVS in tow
But what prompted the two teams to even consider a merger in the first place?
In an interview on Noli Eala’s Power and Play program on Saturday, Angels team manager David Dichupa walked listeners through how the idea first took shape before falling apart.
According to Dichupa, the plan initially stemmed from a business-oriented partnership rather than a sporting decision, with the volleyball aspect entering the picture only later on.
“The plan was really to join up with another team, with Nxled of Mr. Chris Tiu,” he said.
“That was born out of an arrangement that was more business than sports. We were supposed to use Nxled products as giveaways when people come to buy gas from us. It was sort of something like that.
“We were even thinking of maybe putting up some [Nxled] stores in our gasoline stations na medyo malalaki.”
However, when discussions progressed toward a full merger of the two teams, the league and its stakeholders raised concerns on the precedent such a move would set and its potential impact on competitive balance.
“It was sort of a business proposition at the beginning. Then, we sort of moved over to the possibility of merging the two teams which didn’t happen kaya we decided na, ‘O sige, Nxled na lang will be the one, the team that will [stay],’” Dichupa explained.
“We were not allowed by the PVL board to merge. One of the reasons is that maybe some teams felt that it was against the rules that had been set by the PVL in the first place.
“Ang problema rin, there are four sister teams in the PVL. They always have to address the fact na hindi pwede basta-basta ‘yung lipatan ng players.“
Bowing out with grace
When news of Petro Gazz’s leave of absence first surfaced, much of the attention on social media focused on the timing of the decision since it came after two championship wins in 2025.
Dichupa viewed the situation differently, citing those back-to-back titles as the ideal closing chapter to the Angels’ six-year run.
“If we’re going to step away from this, now is a good time considering na galing kami sa dalawang championship last year in the All-Filipino and the Reinforced, the two conferences that were most important for the year,” he said.
“It’s sad to say goodbye, we’ve been there for quite a while at mahirap magpaalam talaga, Even the girls, they really felt sad about the whole thing because we have established a connection with all the girls. They like playing together.”
Dichupa added that management also made it a priority to ensure all 16 Angels found new teams, even going as far as helping facilitate some of the transfers themselves.
“Pinag-usapan namin ‘yan as a group and what we tried to do also was to make sure that everybody had a home. ‘Yun ang ginawa namin as Petro Gazz,” he said.
“What we did was we did talk to the other managers. ‘O, may kailangan ka ba?’ things like that. Everybody was ok naman with it.”
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