The PBA is now looking at the Ynares Center in Antipolo for the staging of Season 46, as it has scrapped the idea of resuming play within the National Capital Region (NCR) due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the country.
Commissioner Willie Marcial said that the league has held talks with the local governments of both Rizal and the city for the use of the said venue for the next cage wars, which will take place in a closed-circuit set-up.
“Kinakausap na natin ang LGU, si ex-governor/ex-mayor Junjun Ynares. May talks na kami regarding that,” he told Tiebreaker Times Tuesday.
Marcial thought of playing in Antipolo when the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) responded to their letter asking to hold games in the NCR and suggested talking to LGUs for possible venues for the games.
The PBA initially planned to play at either SMART Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City ,or at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. The government then said that they will have to do it in a bubble setting like in Clark last year.
Marcial, however, decided to look at the other option instead. He pointed out that the bubble is both costly and could be stressful mentally for the delegates.
“Sabi ko, ang hirap ng bubble. One, mahal; two, hindi lang ‘yung mahal kasi nakaka-recover naman ang PBA, pero ‘yung mental heatlh. ‘Yung dalawang buwan na nga lang medyo mahirap, ito sampung buwan,” he stressed.
Should the province agree, the PBA will then seek the approval of the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) group made up of the Department of Health, Games and Amusements Board, and the Philippine Sports Commission.
“So, ‘yun nga sinabi ng Task Force: LGU. Kung LGU papayag, titignan na namin sa JAO — sa GAB, sa DOH, PSC,” Marcial said.
Besides the venue switch, the league has also decided to move its planned opening date from April 11 to April 18 as they still seek the government’s approval for all teams to conduct scrimmages.
At present, no member team has permission to do five-on-five practices yet and are only working out per batches.
“Kailangan mag-practice pa sila ng scrimmages eh. ‘Di ba ginawa natin ‘yan sa bubble? Kaya hindi agad tayo nagsimula kasi kailangan nila mag-practice. So ganun ang mangyayari,” Marcial said.
“‘Pag papayagan tayo by April 5, o, practice sila ng 10-12 days. Siguro by April 18, kung okay na, kung papayagan, at may kasamang dasal, baka April 18 magsimula tayo — kung papalarin tayo.”
