Background Prior to the MPBL, the concept of a Philippine sports league using a home and away format had been done multiple times before. The most notable of these leagues was the
Metropolitan Basketball Association of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which served as a direct competitor to the top-flight
Philippine Basketball Association. High expenses and lack of funding led to the MBA ceasing operations in 2002. There was also
Liga Pilipinas, formed by the merger of the Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association and
National Basketball Conference. The league was part of a merger with the
Philippine Basketball League to form the
PBA's upcoming developmental league, but the plan fell through and the D-League launched independently.
Manny Pacquiao has pursued a professional basketball career for a few years, having played in and coached for the
Kia/Mahindra franchise in the PBA. After his PBA career, he formally launched the MPBL on August 29, 2017, with the intent to feature both the commercial and
barangay-level side, with teams on the commercial side to have a home locality in addition to a corporate sponsor. The plan was for the league to begin with
Luzon-based teams only and then expand to
Visayas and
Mindanao later on. The expanded league would have two divisions, North and South, where one team from both divisions face in a finals series similar to the format of the
National Basketball Association (NBA) in
North America. The league was planned to start as early as September 23, 2017 with at least six teams. A preseason tournament was held with the
Bulacan Kuyas finishing as champions.
Snow Badua was the league's inaugural commissioner, but he did not take on the role when the first season eventually began as six-time PBA champion
Kenneth Duremdes succeeded Badua as league commissioner on November 22, 2017.
2018–2020: Amateur era The MPBL began its
inaugural season on January 25, 2018, at the
Smart Araneta Coliseum in
Quezon City. The inaugural season featured ten teams, all based in Luzon, with the requirement of each team having three homegrown players. In the opening game, the
Parañaque Patriots scored a 70–60 victory over the
Caloocan Supremos. The playoffs only had eight teams due to the small size, concluding with the
Batangas City Athletics winning the inaugural title in the
2018 finals against the
Muntinlupa Cagers. In the
2018–19 season, the league added sixteen expansion teams, bringing the total to 26 teams. Five of the sixteen expansions are based in Visayas and Mindanao, thus marking the league's national expansion. The
North and
South Divisions were introduced and the playoff pool doubled to sixteen teams, eight per division. The league also placed roster restrictions on teams, only allowing one Filipino-foreigner and up to five ex-professional players, intended to maintain parity and preserve the league's grassroots foundations. However, the classification of and restrictions on Filipino-foreigners was criticized by fans, coaches, and players, particularly other Filipino-foreigners including
Rob Reyes and
Abu Tratter. The rule would later be relaxed in future seasons. The following
2019–20 season featured 31 teams participating in the league, the most the league had in its history, adding six expansion teams but also saw its first departing team, the
Mandaluyong El Tigre. Roster restrictions were also relaxed, allowing more Filipino-foreigners and ex-professional players to play in the league. This season also saw the debut of the International Invasion series, which saw games being played in the
United Arab Emirates and in
Canada.
2020–2021: COVID-19 disruption Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, the league suspended play on March 12, 2020. Nearly a year later, on March 6, 2021, the league announced the resumption of its playoffs. The remainder of the league's
2020 playoffs was held at a
bubble at the Subic Bay Gymnasium. In a rematch of the 2019 national finals series, the Davao Occidental Tigers won the
2021 national finals against the San Juan Knights. Because of the restrictions imposed by the government due to the pandemic, the league's 2020–21 season would be cancelled. The league's fourth season would be postponed multiple times before it eventually began in 2022. In October 2021, Chooks-to-Go took over the league's basketball operations. This trend of teams competing in other regional leagues during the off-season continued into later seasons with the
Pilipinas Super League (PSL).
2021–2025: The start of the professional era On November 9, 2021, it was announced that the MPBL would turn into a professional league. A month later, on December 9, 2021, the MPBL was granted professional status by the
Games and Amusements Board (GAB). This also allowed the league to feature collegiate players on team rosters, as long as the player himself has a Special Guest License. The league's first professional event was the
2021 Invitational, during which all roster restrictions were lifted. The preseason tournament would later be developed with the
MPBL Preseason Invitational in future seasons as a smaller pocket tournament. As the league continued its recovery from the pandemic, it finally started its fourth season, the
2022 season, after multiple postponements and over a year after last season's conclusion. It only featured 22 teams, the smallest the league has gotten since its inaugural season. The
Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards became the first team to achieve a regular season sweep and subsequently won the
2022 national finals against the
Zamboanga Family's Brand Sardines. The succeeding
2023 season featured 29 teams, which included the additions of the
Negros Muscovados and
Quezon Huskers. The season also marked the beginning of a trend where PBA prospects, such as
Justine Baltazar,
CJ Cansino, and
Adrian Nocum would first play in the MPBL before eventually declaring for the
draft. Similarly, PBA veterans such as the likes of
Marc Pingris,
Jayjay Helterbrand, and
Arwind Santos also began playing in the regional league during the latter part of their playing careers. On November 7, 2023, the league launched its social arm, the
MPBL Kalinga, with the goal of providing medical assistance to MPBL players, former and current, as well as league officials and staff. In October 2024, a party-list sharing the same acronym, the
Maharlikang Pilipino sa Bagong Lipunan party-list, was created in an effort to extend their grassroots program into other sports. The season culminated with the homegrown-laden
Pampanga Giant Lanterns sweeping the
Bacoor City Strikers in the
2023 national finals. The
2024 season also featured 29 teams and marked the start of the league's Northern Luzon expansion. The ex-professional player limit was removed, allowing teams to sign any number of professional players onto their rosters. In April 2024, the league began exploring the possibility of joining the
East Asia Super League. However, this was later refuted by EASL CEO Henry Kerins in October that year, stating that "there were no exploratory talks" while also sharing his respect for the league. The season culminated with the first back-to-back championship after Pampanga defeated the
Quezon Huskers in three games in the
2024 MPBL finals, which also featured the league's first international games in five years. The
2025 season features 30 teams and will see the introduction of the league's play-in tournament, a series of games to be held after the regular season and before the playoffs to determine which teams take up the final playoff spots similar to its
NBA counterpart. The Northern Luzon expansion continued with the addition of the
Ilagan Isabela Cowboys.
2026–present: New leadership In January 2026, the league had its first major leadership change since starting play in 2018, with
Kenneth Duremdes becoming MPBL president with
Emmerson Oreta succeeding him as the league's third commissioner.
Sports betting platform OKBet, succeeded Chooks-to-Go as the league's new title sponsor in 2022 and continued into 2023. In 2025, the league signed a new title sponsorship deal with gambling company
1xbet, which supposed to last until 2026, however the sponsorship was eventually pulled out mid-season and be replaced with 747 Live during the 2025 Playoffs and all the way to the 2025 National Finals. In 2026, MPBL partners with SportsPlus as it's latest title sponsor.
Game-fixing issue The league has been noted for its
game-fixing problem, which has been one of its long-standing issues. The league began cracking down on game-fixing ahead of the 2019–20 season, a season that went on to have multiple such cases. Ahead of the 2024 season, the league banned 47 players and officials who were allegedly involved in such acts. The league has also told team owners to exclude any players and coaches who are suspected to be involved in this issue. == Teams ==