PVL prioritizes fairness with its first-ever Rookie Draft

Premier Volleyball League introduces fair play recognition system

The Premier Volleyball League is set to implement a new fair play recognition system as it reverts back to the previous technical timeout format for the upcoming All-Filipino Conference, which is scheduled to kick off on February 20 at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.

The league is also gearing up for its inaugural Rookie Draft in the next conference in June.

One of the major changes includes the issuance of green cards to players who admit to a block touch or a net touch voluntarily. This initiative aims to streamline the adjudication process and minimize the need for unnecessary video challenges.

League commissioner Sherwin Malonzo announced that the league will revert to the former eight and 16 technical timeouts, each lasting one minute, along with regular timeouts lasting 30 seconds. Players will now be required to remain on the court during video challenges, barring coaches from interacting with them during disputes.

The Premier Volleyball League, organized by Sports Vision, is also set to make history by conducting its first-ever annual draft immediately following the All-Filipino Conference.

The draft order for the bottom four teams will be determined through a lottery, with the remaining teams likely to be allocated positions based on their standings in the season-opening conference.

Malonzo shared insights into the draft eligibility criteria, specifying that applicants must be at least 21 years old on the draft day. The league is still finalizing detailed regulations, which will be presented to member teams.

Meanwhile, the All-Filipino Conference will feature a single round-robin elimination phase, with the top four teams advancing to the semis for another round-robin phase. The championship will be a best-of-three series between the top two squads, with a playoff held in case of a tie for the second final slot. Playoff ties will be resolved using the FIVB system of classification.