With these new additions alongside the two foreign guest teams, this is the first conference of the PVL that has more than ten participating corporate teams. Moreover, this is also the most contested conference of the league, by having thirteen teams — the most by any conference so far.
Participating teams
2023 Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference
Measures were placed to ensure that sister teams (Creamline and Choco Mucho; PLDT and Cignal HD; Chery Tiggo and Foton) would not be drawn in the same pool.[9]
a.^ The following players annotated above are current NCAA players that are competing as "guest players" to their respective teams through a special guest license (SGL) granted by the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) and honored by their collegiate league. This license allows them to play in a professional league without foregoing their remaining collegiate playing years.[28]
Format
The following format will be conducted for the entirety of the conference:[5]
Preliminary Round
Single-round robin preliminaries; 2 pools; Teams are ranked using the FIVB Ranking System.
The top 2 teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals.
Teams not advancing to the semifinals will relegate to the classification round.
The last-placed team in Pool B will automatically be ranked 13th.
Classification
11th place: A5 vs. B5
9th place: A4 vs. B4
7th place: A3 vs. B3
Semifinals
Single-round robin preliminaries; 4 local teams and 2 foreign guest teams; Teams are ranked using the FIVB Ranking System.
Teams from the same pool will carry over their head-to-head record.
The 3rd and 4th ranked teams will advance to the bronze medal match.
The 1st and 2nd ranked teams will advance to the winner-take-all gold medal match.
Finals
All games are knockout matches.
Bronze medal: 3rd ranked team vs. 4th ranked team
Gold medal: 1st ranked team vs. 2nd ranked team
Pool standing procedure
First, teams are ranked by the number of matches won.
If the number of matches won is tied, the tied teams are then ranked by match points, wherein:
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser.
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser.
In case of any further ties, the following criteria shall be used:
Set ratio: the number of sets won divided by number of sets lost.
Point ratio: number of points scored divided by number of points allowed.
Head-to-head standings: any remaining tied teams are ranked based on the results of head-to-head matches involving the teams in question.