THE PBA plans to hold gamesfive times a week once it resumes its season in Pampanga to be able to finish the 2021 Philippine Cup by October, commissioner Willie Marcial said on Tuesday.
Marcial said the league plans to hold games from Wednesday to Sunday during the season resumption at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga, pending approval of school officials.
Unlike before when the whole elimination-round schedule was pre-set, Marcial said the match-ups this time will only be announced upon the release of results of weekly testing to be conducted on all team members every Monday.
“May doubleheader, my tripleheader pero ilalabas lang namin ang schedule every Tuesday afternoon after nila mag-test ng Monday. Doon pa lang natin malalaman. Weekly ang labas ng schedule,” said Marcial.
Hotel-venue-hotel set-up
Marcial said the playoffs will still follow the same format as previous Philippine Cup editions.
“Baka ang eliminations, kung walang problema, tapos tayo ng third week of September. Siguro matatapos tayo, kung walang aberya, second week of October,” said Marcial.
The conduct of the season will be done under a semi-bubble or under a hotel-venue-hotel set-up. Some of the teams are already in Pampanga in preparation for the resumption of the season.
This is in contrast to the format during the first three weeks where teams were allowed to travel from their respective homes to the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig where the games were played and back.
But the PBA was forced to adjust after Metro Manila was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) from August 6 to 20. The capital is now under Modified ECQ until August 31.
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