FANS will have to wait a little bit longer before they can watch collegiate sports action live as the UAAP Season 84 will hold its first wave of men's basketball games behind closed doors.
UAAP executive director Rebo Saguisag shared that with the competitions tipping off on March 26 at the Mall of Asia Arena, the collegiate league will observe a full bubble setup with the teams coming straight from their in-campus bubble to the venue.
"We'll try to maintain the bubble. There will be dedicated vehicles that will come straight to game venue. We prioritize the health and safety of each of the student-athletes," he said on Friday.
UAAP president Nonong Calanog of host La Salle added: "We'll ask for more patience from our fans and our media partners."
"At the very least for the first round, we'll maintain a strict bubble. We want to make sure that we're able to lower the number of variables to keep our athletes safe. We want to make sure that we put up a tournament without incident."
No fans for the meantime at UAAP venues.
Games will be played on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with four games set per gameday slated at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m., and 7 p.m.
After the double-round robin eliminations is the Final Four, with the victors fighting in a best-of-three championship series.
Aside from the MOA Arena, also the venues in consideration are the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan, and the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
There is still a glimmer of hope for fans to once again soak in the school spirit live as the UAAP hopes that the COVID-19 situation in the country gets better and would snowball to the league allowing fans to soon come to the venues.
"If by the end of the first round things start to go well, we may start bringing in a limited number of spectators and media partners by the start of second round," Calanog said.
It's an optimistic view, but a decision that the officials say will largely vie on the situation that the UAAP is dealing with.
"It will depend on the science and the data by that time. If things turn out well, at least we're in a bubble and the government won't stop us [whatever the situation is]," he said.
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