AFTER staging three conferences in the past two COVID-19 pandemic years — two Philippine Cups and one import-spiced tourney — the PBA is out to recoup losses and return to some sort of normalcy.
“We’ll have a full season. With God’s grace, we survived the pandemic,” pro league chairman and TNT team governor Ricky Vargas said in the recent pre-season press conference at the Conrad Manila in Pasay.
“We survived one conference, we survived two conferences and we’ll succeed with three conferences,” he added.
The PBA is reverting to its pre-pandemic slate of three conferences — Philippine Cup, Commissioner’s Cup and Governors’ Cup — for the coming 47th season that kicks off this Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The 2020 import-less tilt was held in a bubble in Angeles, while the 2021 Philippine Cup was played in a semi-bubble set-up in Bacolor.
Last year’s Governors Cup followed a closed-circuit format.
“The biggest priority is to get back to normal and the only way we will get back to normal is to have three conferences,” Vargas said.
Although the National Capital Region is under the most lenient Alert Level 1 status, the PBA will still implement strict health and safety protocols.
“Iyong mga may game, mga maglalaro mag-a-antigen lahat,” Marcial said.
But the league will ask the proper government agencies if it can be allowed to do away with antigen testing.
“Pero habang wala pa, every gameday, ang staff, referees, players mag-antigen,” Marcial said. “Ang media, once-a-week ang testing.”
The league honors the Most Valuable Player and the best individual performers last season in the Leo Awards at 2 o’clock that will be preceded by the formal opening ceremonies, the first since March 2020 or before the pandemic broke out.
Newcomer Converge, which acquired the fabled Alaska franchise, squares off with Rain or Shine at 4:30 p.m.
