Under New Commissioner Joseller "Yeng" Guiao, the PBL games were now held at the newly built Makati Coliseum in Makati and covered on primetime TV, produced by Silverstar Sports and aired on PTV-4.
Tanduay Gold Rhum Masters gave their coach Alfrancis Chua his fifth PBL title and avenged their loss to Dazz coach Junel Baculi when the latter's team, then called Hapee Toothpaste, beat the former Stag Pale Pilsen, 3-1, in last year's Reinforced Conference.
[1] The PBL All-Filipino Cup opens on October 25, 1997,[2] AMA Computer College and Springmaid didn't participate but a new ballclub Wilkins Distilled Water joined the five other teams.
[4] After 18 games, Tanduay Gold Rhum clinch the first finals berth with a 12-6 won-loss card, Welcoat and defending All-Filipino Cup champion Agfa were tied with 11 wins and 7 losses and will meet in a playoff to determine the Rhum Masters' opponent.
Tanduay came back from a 1-2 series deficit and win their 6th PBL title against Agfa HDC Films.