THE PBA will release the schedule of the 2021 Philippine Cup on Wednesday, two days before the start of the 46th season of the league at the Ynares Sports Arena.
Asia's first professional basketball league is finally starting on Friday after being given clearance by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
The conduct of the season, however, will be under a home-venue-home set-up or closed-circuit format where strict safety protocols will be implemented.
Game days will be every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday but to fast-track the season, the PBA will hold tripleheaders starting in the opener except during gamedays of the 3x3 league.
The Philippine Cup will still play a single round-robin tournament with the top eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals.
Just like in previous Philippine Cup conferences except during the bubble season, the top two teams at the end of the elims will gain a twice-to-beat advantage against the seventh and eighth-ranked ballclubs, respectively, in the quarterfinals.
The third and fourth-placers will play a best-of-three series against the fifth and sixth-seeded squads, respectively.
Preparation for the new season
Following the announcement that the PBA season is a go, teams continued in their build-up for the conference, but still trained in Batangas as they are still barred, at the moment, from training in Metro Manila,
But before the start of the season-opening conference, the entire PBA family must subject themselves to an RT-PCR test three days prior to kick-off.
The Ynares Sports Arena is also being spruced up in preparation for the season to make sure that the venue follows government guidelines such as social distancing measures.
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