Premier Volleyball League (PVL) President Ricky Palou during the 2026 All-Filipino Conference press launch on January 28, 2026. PVL Media Bureau
MANILA — Premier Volleyball League (PVL) President Ricky Palou admitted Wednesday that the league is "concerned" about its teams leaving.
The number of competing teams in the 2026 PVL All-Filipino Conference is now down to 10 after Petro Gazz — notably, the defending champion — took a leave of absence and Chery Tiggo disbanded during the offseason.
Palou bared that the reason behind teams leaving is the rising cost of maintaining it, and the league is doing its part internally to make the playing field sustainable.
"We know it is getting more expensive for the teams to keep up, keep their teams together. I understand teams are now spending like something P60-75 million a year to maintain a team," said Palou during the season-ending conference's press launch in Ortigas.
READ: PVL: Petro Gazz takes leave of absence; Angels now free agents
"We're trying to look at some steps on how to make it more sustainable for them. We're in that. Internally, we've been discussing some issues on how we can do to actually help the teams," added Palou.
"And to us, this is a concern. We'd like to have the teams reduce the expenses and right now we're in talks on how to do this."
READ: PVL: Van Sickle on Petro Gazz taking leave of absence — 'Heartbreaking but understandable'
The sports executive said that Petro Gazz is not leaving the league entirely, and they are in talks with the management to do sponsorships.
"As far as Petro Gazz is concerned, they still want to be part of the league. So we're in talks with them on possible sponsorships. They're willing to still be involved in the activities of the league. We're in talks with them right now with Petro Gazz."
READ: 'Closing a chapter': Chery Tiggo announces exit from PVL
Palou thanked Petro Gazz and Chery Tiggo as well for their contributions to the league.
"We'd like to thank Chery Tiggo and Petro Gazz for their participation in the PVL. If you go back in time, we remember that the first champion of the PVL as a professional league was Chery Tiggo. This happened in Bacarra. And our last champion for the (2025) season was Petro Gazz," he said.
"We're really sad for them to go, but I guess they have their special, their own reasons for leaving the league."