PBA eyes Antipolo, Pasig as venues for season opening

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Basketball Association is considering two venues — the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo or Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig — for the next Philippine Cup.

In a statement posted in its official website, the league said that PBA commissioner Willie Marcial already had talks with Antipolo Mayor Junjun Ynares discussing the possible use of the Ynares Sports Center in the city to kick off PBA Season 46 in late June or early July for the next all-Filipino tournament. 

The league noted the complete amenities offered in the Antipolo arena, but added that this would mean "longer drives for the teams in a closed-circuit setup."

"We'll discuss the finer details of plans after June 15," said Marcial, saying he hoped for NCR Plus to ease into "a more lenient quarantine status that would allow the PBA to hold games either in Pasig or Antipolo."

The PBA was careful to point out that its decision would hinge on the next IATF announcement on quarantine classification for NCR Plus after the June 1-15 period.

In the event that the league decides to bring its operations to Ynares Sports Arena instead, it will first need to get the green light from both the provincial government of Rizal and the city government of Pasig.

"So kung kami-kami lang, pwede na ang Ynares-Pasig," Marcial said, adding that the PBA is "not looking at giant venues for now."

"Ang problema lang sa Ynares-Pasig eh walang dugouts. We would need to put up tents as dressing areas for the players."

(If it's just us, it will work with Ynares-Pasig. The only problem there is that there are no dugouts.)

As it currently stands, the league's 12 teams are still going out of town for training with the NCR Plus bubble still under a restricted general community quarantine. 

This comes after the league first kicked off at the Angeles University Foundation Gym in Angeles, Pampanga for its last Philippine Cup.