Pressed for time, PBA not keen on PH Cup format change

MANILA, Philippines — Despite facing time constraints, the PBA is not keen on tweaking the format of the Philippine Cup if the planned season resumption pushes through.

Instead, the league will likely compress the schedule and ramp up the number of games per week to fit the ideal timetable.

“I don’t think we’re going to change the format. It will be the same, although, we may have to increase the number of game days to four or five times a week or double or triple header per day,” PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said in Filipino.

Another possibility is to reduce the finals and semifinals to just a best-of-five series from the usual race-to-four.

“We have been analyzing those things which we’re going to discuss with the Board of Governors.”

Marcial said he had initially thought of cutting the number of games of each team, but he ultimately decided going that route would be unfair for the team owners whose ballclubs need the exposure more than ever with the PBA on hiatus since March.

“If you’re the team owner and you’re paying the salary of the whole team but the team only gets to play five games, I don’t think it’s worth it,” Marcial said.

“I don’t want that to happen to our teams. It’s better if we’re able to play more games and not just have a short and quick tournament. The teams definitely want more exposure.”