Expect the last week of February to be filled with basketball.
TV5 will air both the 2022 PBA Governors’ Cup and the highly-anticipated FIBA World Cup 2023 Asian Qualiiiers’ first window in Manila.
“TV5 has agreed to that also, that tuloy-tuloy ang PBA, they will also cover the Gilas window games,” PBA Chairman Ricky Vargas said Friday.
The league would usually pause play to give way for FIBA tournaments, especially when some of its players are called up to play for Gilas Pilipinas.
TNT will form the Nationals’ core in the tilt, but there won’t be any stoppage as the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) doesn’t want to disrupt the season.
The import-laced conference has been paused for over a month now due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and will resume on February 11.
With this, the league not only gave way to the SBP in using the SMART Araneta Coliseum as the WCQ’s venue but even in the broadcast of games as well.
“Maggi-give way din tayo sa FIBA,” said Commissioner Willie Marcial.
The fifth-year league chieftain explained in detail how the coverage would turn out, based on the discussions he had with the network.
“First game natin PBA, live, Second game, FIBA. Delayed telecast ang second game ng PBA [sa TV5], pero live sa One Sports,” he said.
The World Cup Qualifiers are set for February 24-28.
The Quezon City bubble will see Gilas, South Korea, New Zealand, and India playing in a bruat four-games-in-five days setup.
