THE PBA Philippine Cup attendance showed encouraging signs on Sunday during a Sunday doubleheader at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Close to 9,000 fans showed up at the Big Dome to watch Barangay Ginebra trounce Globalport, 104-97, in the main game and Phoenix deal NLEX its first loss this season, 102-95.
The decent crowd should come as a relief for PBA officials, who saw the attendance in the league's opening game and a Christmas double-header at the Philippine Arena hit record lows.
The huge crowd at the Big Dome came as a surprise to league officials.
"We didn't expect it to be this big. Tapos hindi pa naglaro si Terrence (Romeo) for Globalport," said one team official, who refused to be named as he was not in a position to speak on behalf of the league.
"Besides galing pa ang mga tao sa bakasyon so hindi expected na ganito kadami ang mga manonood."
The doubleheader is the first official games to be played under the watch of PBA officer-in-charge Marcial since being named caretaker of the league after the resignation of former commissioner Chito Narvasa became effective last January 1.
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