PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial together with PBA Deputy Comm. Eric Castro during the players’ dialogue about the proposed bubble. PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines — While the PBA followed the NBA’s blueprint for its bubble restart in Clark, not everything will be mirrored.
One of the things the PBA won’t be doing that the NBA has allowed in its campus-like environment at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida is allowing the players’ friends and families to enter the bubble and watch the games in the arena.
“We will be different in this one. The players will really have to endure not having a family member watching,” Marcial said in Filipino on the Sports Page.
“That’s because we have yet to know what’s the protocol in the province. We don’t know what’s the protocol of the Task Force. Because I think watching the games is really not allowed.”
The resumption of the Philippine Cup will officially begin on October 9 at Angeles University Foundation gym, which is 16 minutes away from the Quest Hotel where the players will be staying for the duration of the conference.
Teams are expected to enter the bubble on September 26 as scrimmages begin a day after.
Each team is allowed a maximum of 25 people, which already include 15 players.
An individual who has entered the bubble won’t be allowed to return once he or she leaves.
A player who violates bubble protocols will be fined P100,000 and will not be paid a month’s worth of salary on top of a five game-suspension in the next season.