PBA eyes October 9 season resumption

MANILA, Philippines — If plans don’t miscarry, the PBA will restart its suspended 45th season on Oct. 9 and end hostilities by Dec. 10 or 15 with a possible schedule of four or five game days a week featuring tripleheaders under strict health/safety conditions as prescribed by the IATF.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said yesterday the Board of Governors will meet sometime next week to take up proposals on a restart. He also mentioned that the PBA will request clearance from the IATF to expand limited workouts to 5-on-5 scrimmages with a target date of Sept. 15.

“Nasa GCQ pa tayo sa Metro Manila,” noted Marcial. “So far, so good ang ating workouts since we began limited training last week. Maayos ang takbo. Teams are policing their own ranks while we send inspectors to monitor every team. Kung pumayag ang IATF to allow 5-on-5 scrimmages under our health/safety protocols, baka we can do it starting Sept. 15.”

Marcial said the board will evaluate various options to restart the season in the coming meeting. It could be a race to finish the season at least a week before Christmas. The options include a combination of tripleheaders and doubleheaders, games to be held four or five days a week and setting up bubble-like camps for the teams. Since the PBA disclosed that it is considering to create “bubble” camps like the NBA, at least 13 hotels have reached out to offer hosting services. Some hotels even suggested to transform their ballrooms into practice facilities and one provincial resort offered to build a tent for the games with the goal of promoting the season as a boost for tourism.

Marcial said there may not be time to hold tune-up games before the season restarts. “It will depend on when the IATF clears the start of 5-on-5 scrimmages and when we can reopen our season,” he said. “The board will look into every option. We’ll talk with TV5/Cignal if OK sa kanila yung mga options.” Marcial reiterated that whatever is the board’s decision, the priority consideration is the safety of the players, coaches, game officials and everyone involved in the PBA, especially the fans.

If 5-on-5 scrimmages begin on Sept. 15 and the season restarts on Oct. 9, it will be only a little more than three weeks of contact workouts. But it will be over six weeks since the teams began training in the gym. In the NBA “bubble,” teams began mandatory individual workouts last July 1, did inter-squad scrimmages on July 22-29 and started the seeding games on July 30. Practices were interrupted by travel to Orlando, checking in at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and quarantine in rooms for 48 hours so the available training time was about three weeks compared to over six in the PBA assuming a season restart on Oct. 9. Marcial said he wants to make sure players are given maximum training to be game-ready when the season reopens so as to avoid the incidence of injuries.