THE PBA recently hooked up with the Toronto Raptors management and some Filipino organizers about the possibility of holding an official game in Canada.
Commissioner Willie Marcial bared the grand plan upon arriving from the North American country last Wednesday where he held an official business meeting with Raptors official Julian Franklin in Toronto.
Franklin is vice-president for global partnership of Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment, which owns the Raptors franchise and was a guest of the PBA last March in Manila.
READ Gilas legends celebrate 2014 Cinderella run with Canada tour
Marcial later travelled to Calgary and met with Go Hard Sports head Danilo Cruz and partners Roderick Liwanag and Alexander Tumang during the opener of the goodwill tour bannered by the Gilas Pilipinas Legends.
The Gilas members led by LA Tenorio, Marc Pingris, Jeff Chan, Gary David, Ranidel De Ocampo, Arwind Santos, Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood, and Marcus Douthit played the University of Calgary team.
“Madaming kababayan natin ang nanood. Masaya yung atmosphere. Kaya tinitingnan natin na baka makapaglaro ng isang official game dun, tapos magkaroon ng clinics tulad ng Batang PBA,” said Marcial when he graced the closing ceremony of the Draft Combine on Thursday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
If plans push through, the league will initially test the waters by holding an exhibition game involving one PBA team prior to the staging of an official game.
PBA overseas games nothing new
Playing official games outside of the country is nothing new to Asia’s first ever play-for-pay league.
Previously it held games in Indonesia (TNT vs Shell 2005 Commissioner’s Cup), Guam (Red Bull vs Alaska 2006 Philippine Cup), Hong Kong (Purefoods vs TNT 2006 Philippine Cup), and a a number of games in Dubai, the last of which was played during the 2019 Governors’ Cup (NLEX vs San Miguel and NLEX vs. Barangay Ginebra).
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
