PBA back on February 11; fans on February 16?
The PBA will pick up from where it left off when it played a Christmas Day game. —PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines–The health crisis worked itself out for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), with a lowered alert level and a drop in COVID-19 infections wiping out the need for the league to seek additional permits for its return to action.
But while it has pegged a Feb. 11 resumption of the season-ending Governors’ Cup, the PBA will only welcome fans back by Feb. 16 at the earliest.
“Just for an added sense of [safety], I’m looking at maybe three playdates before reopening Araneta’s gates to spectators,” PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said on Friday. “I’m hoping we can bring people back in by Feb. 16.”
The league has already taken steps to ease fans’ return to the games and providing them with a lot more experience than just the action on the court.
“We’ve lowered prices for the tickets, and we’ve readied some gimmicks within the venues as well,” Marcial said.
“It’s now just a matter of ‘when,’” he added.
Metro Manila’s return to the relaxed alert level 2 means that the league no longer has to secure any added clearance as it simply goes back to an old setup. But fans will be subject to the same set of health protocols that were imposed when the league opened the gates to spectators last Dec. 15.
The league announced on Friday that it will reopen on Feb. 11 and will set up camp also in Antipolo or Pasig City while the Big Dome is being utilized for the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) Asia World Cup Qualifiers.
