THE coming PBA golden season should be a blast.
Leaving no stone unturned in its 50th year, the pro league has tweaked its format, doing away with the playoff in case a tie, or ties, ensue for the eighth and final quarterfinals slot after the one-round eliminations.
“There will be no more playoffs for the No. 8 spot. Ties will be resolved by a quotient tiebreak,” PBA chairman Ricky Vargas said during the pro league’s recent planning session at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The season-opening Philippine Cup, which opens on Oct. 5 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, will be followed by the Governors’ Cup with imports with unlimited height, then the Commissioner’s Cup, featuring reinforcements with a 6-foot-6 ceiling.
The Commissioner’s Cup is also traditionally the second conference and the Govs’ Cup is the finale.
Format is single round robin in the elims, with the top four gaining twice-to-beat incentives in the quarterfinals against the next four. Both the semifinals and the finals will be best-of-7 duels.
The PBA is also eyeing a separate mini-invitational to possibly accommodate a guest team.
“Mayroon kasing guest team na gustong lumaro sa Philippine Cup. It was turned down by the board since it’s All-Filipino,” pro league Commissioner Willie Marcial said.
“Eastern begged off (to play in the season) while an Indonesian team, medyo nabitin dahil sa gulo sa kanila at the moment.”
Bringing the country’s top sports league overseas is also the priority of the PBA, with tiffs slated in New York, Bahrain and Dubai in a three-conference slate.
On Oct. 4, a Saturday, a fan day will be staged at the green gate of the Big Dome in a greet and meet where select bands are set to perform.
In the evening, everybody who participated in the building of the league will be honored in a huge fellowship gathering the league’s past and present at the Meralco Theater, to be capped by a concert at the 1,000-seater venue.
The following day, the annual Leo Awards will be held in the afternoon at the Novotel Manila, where the 49th season MVP and other individual awardees are set to be feted.
Shortly after, a mini-concert will be staged and possibly, a fireworks display will be held outside the Mecca of Philippine sports.
Sunday night will be highlighted by the traditional season-opening program and the maiden match of the milestone anniversary.
