UAAP Season 85 kicks off October 1

MANILA, Philippines — The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) ushers in its second straight season this year on Oct. 1, hoping to swing back to a full calendar after a compressed edition last time out.

The full list of events is yet to be announced but hopes are high for the UAAP – with Cignal TV as official broadcast partner – to pull off a complete comeback for Season 85 after staging only eight events in Season 84.

“Our student-athletes have been waiting for their moment, some yet to return to the playing field since 2019. Together with Cignal, we are hoping and praying that we are allowed to have the full calendar back this season,” said UAAP Season 85 president Fr. Aldrin Suan, CM of host Adamson University.

For the centerpiece basketball event, the UAAP has appointed former Alaska Aces governor and current PBA 3x3 chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann as commissioner.

Bachmann, who played for La Salle before transitioning to an amiable executive, will serve until Season 86 to ensure continuous learning development for the UAAP pool of referees that’s already in the selection process.

Last March, the premier league came back from a two-year hiatus under a condensed format for limited events in men’s basketball, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s 3x3 basketball, men’s and women’s chess, poomsae and men’s beach volleyball plus the mid-season spectacle cheerdance competition.

It was held from March to June with University of the Philippines and National U making history in the centerpiece men’s basketball and women’s volleyball, respectively.

UP ended its 36-year basketball title drought, beating three-time champion Ateneo in the finals while NU blanked La Salle in the women’s volleyball finals to complete a 16-0 sweep for its first title in 65 years.