The Philippine Basketball Association is set to open its 46th season on July 16 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The Inter-Agency Task Force approved the resumption of the league in a meeting held last Thursday and will be under a closed-circuit setup, meaning it will follow a home-venue-home setup.
The Games and Amusements Board bared the development.
“The IATF has already approved the resumption of the PBA in a meeting yesterday. The PBA will start on July 16,” said GAB chairman Baham Mitra.
For the past couple of months, teams from the PBA have been training in Batangas, Ilocos Norte, or Pampanga in preparation for the league’s restart.
League commissioner Willie Marcial has also assured that the league’s workforce has been 95-percent inoculated as of a few days ago.
The league was able to get the nod to resume despite the supplemental Joint Administrative Order only allowing contact sport competition through a bubble modality.
With this, the GAB, the Department of Health, and the Philippine Sports Commission will make amendments to the JAO.
“The recommendations of the sports division have been taken into consideration by the Technical Working Group and that’s why the PBA went direct to the IATF. On record, we were present in the TWG and asked it to be approved. GAB and DOH will just include it in the JAO,” said Mitra.
One of the concerns raised by GAB’s pro division is the safety of the household members of the players, staff, and league workforce.
They are hoping that their safety will also be considered as they want to be assured that even they are vaccinated and given regular testing, according to pro division chief June Bautista.