THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) has finally earned the government’s approval to open Season 46 on July 16 with a triple-header at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial made the announcement on Friday stressing the Philippine Cup is officially a go.
“I would like to thank first some key persons and our government for making this happen,” said Marcial, referring to Senator Bong Go, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Covid-19 testing czar Secretary Vince Dizon.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, through Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr., and Games and Amusements Board Chairman Abraham Khalil Mitra confirmed the government’s approval for the PBA to resume.
Marcial also thanked Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Benhur Abalos, Ynares Governor Junjun Ynares, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto and Undersecretary Brigido Dulay of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Mitra.
Triple-headers starting at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays will be played in the Philippine Cup. For Sundays, the matches will start at 2:30 p.m.
Marcial said there will only be two conferences although bringing in imports for the second conference remains in the air.
“We will start assessing a variety of factors by September. First, we will check and see if the government will allow foreigners to fly in,” he said. “Two, we will gauge if imports will agree to play here, and three, we have to prepare for a scenario where teams wanted to change imports?”
The first conference will end in October.