By Ronnie Nathanielsz

PHILIPPINE National Team coach Yeng Guiao, who recently resigned as Red Bull coach after the team was decimated by the peddling of its star players and was the first to be eliminated in the ongoing All Filipino conference, is likely to wind up as coach of Burger King, currently Air21.

In a telephone conversation with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Guiao revealed that Mikee Romero, who owns the Philippine Basketball League champion team Harbour Centre, is investing in the Air21 team, which will assume the Burger King name in the next conference, had talked to him.

?But we haven?t reached an agreement yet,? said Guiao.

There were indications the fiery Guiao, who loves coaching and is credited with turning Red Bull into a fiercely competitive champion team, would accept the offer.

The present owners of Burger King, in which Air21 team owner Bert Lina has a majority share of 60 percent, along with a much smaller stake of team manager Lito Alvarez, include PLDT-Smart?s Manuel V. Pangilinan, who made it clear that he has a private and personal investment of 10 percent, with former Philippine Basketball Association chairman Ricky Vargas putting in some 3.5 percent.

Other investors include Wilson Young of Basic Holdings and Romero himself, although there are rumors that the young sportsman would eventually emerge as chairman of the company and its representative on the PBA board of governors.

The transfer of the Air21 franchise to Burger King under the majority ownership of Lina is expected to cost around P6 million.

But if Burger King is legally considered a new franchise by PBA legal counsel Melvin Mendoza following a thorough study of all the pertinent documents, then it may cost anywhere between P60 and P65 million with the ultimate decision left to the PBA board of governors.