PBA eyes Antipolo or Pasig venues for opening day

FILE – The Tropang Giga and Aces during the 4th PBA season inside a bubble in Clark. —DENISON REY A. DALUPANG

MANILA, Philippines—The PBA is eyeing either Ynares Center in Antipolo or Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig as its potential venue for the opener of the 2021 Philippine Cup in late June or early July.

League Commissioner Willie Marcial had meetings with Antipolo City Mayor Junjun Ynares for the possible use of Ynares Center—a facility that has hosted the PBA several times during previous seasons.

The use of Ynares Sports Arena, however, will need the approval of both the provincial government of Rizal and the city of Pasig.

Marcial said that he and his office will still wait for the national government on what the quarantine classification for NCR Plus will be after the June 1 to 15 period.

Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces—Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan—is still under general community quarantine with restrictions.

“We’ll discuss the finer details of plans after June 15,” said Marcial as per PBA.ph.

He added that the league is not looking to book Metro Manila’s larger venues—Smart Araneta Coliseum and Mall of Asia Arena—as fans won’t be allowed inside the playing venues.

“If it would only be us, meaning the teams and league officials, then we can go to Ynares-Pasig,” said Marcial. “The problem is, Ynares-Pasig doesn’t have dugouts so we need to put up tents as dressing areas for the players.”

Ynares Center in Antipolo, though, is fitted with locker rooms and shower rooms but it would need longer drives for teams for a closed-circuit setup.

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