Metropolitan Basketball Association

Metropolitan Basketball Association

Sport	Basketball
Founded	March 7, 1998; 26 years ago (1998-03-07)
Ceased	July 26, 2002; 22 years ago (2002-07-26)
Commissioner	Ramon Fernandez (first) Chito Loyzaga (last)
No. of teams	16 (total)
Country	Philippines
Last champion(s)	RCPI-Negros Slashers (1st title)
Most titles	5 teams (1 title each)
TV partner(s)	ABS-CBN NBN

The Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), also shortened as Metroball, was a professional basketball league in the Philippines that ran for five seasons from 1998 until 2002.

The MBA was established to rival the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The MBA contained between 8 and 15 teams which represented cities and provinces who played at home and away. Initially, the league was divided into two conferences: the Northern Conference for teams based in Luzon and the Southern Conference for teams based in Visayas and Mindanao. At the end of each season, the champions of each conference faced each other at the MBA National Finals to determine the league champion. Later, the MBA allowed companies to sponsor teams and attach their brand to the teams' names—and by the final season, used a three-conference format. The MBA's rules also differed slightly from the basic rules of basketball.

Each of the five seasons had a different champion: the Pampanga Dragons, Manila Metrostars, San Juan Knights, Batangas Blades, and Negros Slashers. The Negros Slashers had the most finals appearances, with four. The Northern Conference produced the most champions, with four, while the Southern Conference produced only one. A total of sixteen teams have competed in the MBA.

MBA games were broadcast on ABS-CBN Corporation's television networks. ABS-CBN also provided funding for the league. The MBA folded in 2002 due to high costs of maintaining the league and ABS-CBN withdrawing its funding.