THE risk of playing amid an alarming rise in new coronavirus cases has forced the PBA to arrive at the “painful decision” of extending the postponement of games in the Governors Cup.
According to Commissioner Willie Marcial, the move was agreed on during a special board meeting last Wednesday, partly meant to help curb the spread of the deadly virus.
The decision was spurred by the determination to keep the players and their families safe during these trying times.
“Hindi natin isusugal iyung kapakanan, safety ng lahat,” Marcial told Malaya-Business Insight yesterday.
“Sabi ko nga sa governors, alam kong malaki magiging tulak ng mga teams, sa gastos sa import, sa mga players,” added Marcial. “Pero hindi ko puwedeng i-kompromiso ‘yung safety ng players, lalo na ng pamilya nila.”
The sentiment was echoed by PBA Chairman Ricky Vargas of TNT. “It is always a painful decision to postpone PBA games,” he said in a statement.
“But at this time when the infection rate is rising the risk of continuing with the games for our players, officials and staff far outweigh our financial loss and the teams’ increased cost,” added Vargas.
“The PBA will be back. It’s just a temporary pause to allow healing. This way we can assure the fans the quality of games will be sustained.”
The PBA had suspended its scheduled games for Jan. 5 to 9 after the government placed Metro Manila under Alert Level 3 from Jan. 3-15.
Marcial said the governors agreed with him to extend the cancellation of the games beyond Jan. 15 should the new daily infections remain at a high level.
“Tingnan natin. Sa akin, basta mataas pa rin ang mga kaso kahit papayagan na tayong maglaro ayaw ko pa rin,” Marcial said. “Siguro pag nag-Alert 2 pero tingnan pa rin natin.”
Already, there have been unconfirmed reports of infections among the teams. Marcial said that is “likely,” which is one of the reasons he has also forbidden teams from going outside Metro Manila to do full scrimmages in areas under a lower alert level status.
“Ayaw kong ma-defeat ang purpose nitong cancellation natin,” explained Marcial.
“Kapag nag-out-of-town kasi, kahit na bubble set-up pa iyan, walang katiyakan na ‘yung integrity ng bubble intact. Kaya ipinagbawal na rin natin iyung scrimmages.”
