Collegiate Champions League and SMART Ink Sponsorship Agreement

Smart, the country’s biggest telecommunication company, recently signed an agreement with the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) to support the 2008 Philippine Collegiate Championship games as one of its title sponsors. The Memorandum of Agreement was signed by Bong Mojica, Head, Smart Wireless Consumer Division, and Reynaldo D. Gamboa, Champions League Chairman.

Gamboa announced that Smart joins Fil-Oil Flying V of the Villavicencio group of companies as major supporters of the Philippine Collegiate Championship games. “The financial backing extended by these corporate entities is a major boost to the development of collegiate basketball in the country,” added Gamboa.

The Philippine Collegiate Championship is a nationwide multi-level competition starting with the “mother league” games. The various leagues’ winning teams will advance to the regional, zonal and the final phase, the “Sweet 16” Final Challenge in Manila. According to Gamboa this tournament provides teams and players the opportunity to look beyond their “mother leagues” and see the Philippine Collegiate Championship games as the one, true national championship.

As part of its sponsorship support, Smart will be conducting promotional activities in the localities where the regional and zonal championships will be held. According to Bong Mojica, these activities are in line with the marketing thrust of the Smart Wireless Consumer Division and will also raise the level of awareness of this significant collegiate basketball event.

As of date, there are 212 teams from nine regional areas nationwide that are participating in the search for the best collegiate teams in the country. These teams are playing in 26 “mother leagues” that include the major leagues in Metro-Manila, the UAAP, NCAA, NAASCU, CUSA, and the CESAFI of Cebu City.

Aside from the prestige of being crowned national champion, schools can also look forward to over P 2 million pesos worth of scholarships and other grants and prizes at stake in the regional, zonal and national championships. The grants will be a big incentive especially for schools with limited funds for sports development.

The Philippine Collegiate Champion will get P500,000.00 in grants and will represent the country to the 2009 Universiade Games to be held in Serbia. The Universiade brings together the top school teams and athletes from around the world in a competition similar to the Olympics.