FILE–Fans nearly fill out the allowed seating areas at the Big Dome, a welcome surprise for the league that was expecting a much lower Wednesday turnout. —PHOTOS COURTESY OF PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines—Fans won’t be allowed once the 2021-22 PBA Governors’ Cup resumes in February.
Hope, however, is still on as the league could allow spectators back in the arena but it will still depend on the COVID-19 situation in the country.
“The fans won’t be allowed just yet,” said Commissioner Willie Marcial Thursday in a report from PBA.ph. “Maybe after a couple of weeks, we’ll look into the situation if we can allow them back in.”
“But at the start, we won’t have any fans in the building.”
The PBA was already allowing the public to watch live games at Smart Araneta Coliseum in December but that arrangement was put on hold after the country experienced massive spikes in COVID-19 cases in January.
Cases peaked at 37,103 on January 14 but it’s been going down the past week with Thursday tallying 18,191 infections.
“It still depends on the situation because now we’re seeing cases go down,” said Marcial.