The PBA’s planned season restart in its own bubble at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga might face a delay.
According to multiple sources closely monitoring the situation, there has been a delay in swab testing for some PBA teams.
The league set testing days for Wednesday and Thursday, moving the ball clubs’ trip to the former US military base to Sept. 28.
The first batch of teams will enter the bubble on the aforementioned date. The second will then follow the next day.
The league had initially planned to go to Clark by Sept. 27 to finally start its scrimmages for teams to gear up for the Oct. 9 opening. But with this recent development, Asia’s pioneering pro league may have to push back its opener to Oct. 11.
Commissioner Willie Marcial earlier said that they can afford to move the opener between Oct. 11-13 as they still await the Inter-Agency Task Force’s nod.
The league has sent two letters to the IATF — one seeking to allow scrimmages, and the other for the bubble itself.
PBA Chairman Ricky Vargas said in a recent interview that the league will patiently wait for the Task Force’s response.
The league, which is bent to resume its pandemic-delayed Season 45, is expecting to hear from the IATF by Thursday or Friday this week.
