PBA announces July 16 as official start date for Season 46

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) officially announced the start of the league’s 46th season for July 16.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial made the start date official in a virtual press conference on Friday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Games and Amusements Board chair Baham Mitra said in a different press conference that the Inter-Agency Task Force on Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) had already approved the proposed opening date

“Katulad po ng sinabi ni Chairman Mitra kanina, mag-o-open tayo ng July 16. 11 ng umaga,” Marcial said.

“Triple-header po tayo. Closed circuit pa rin ang gagawin po natin.”

Though the schedule has not been finalized, Marcial was able to share some details about the upcoming season.

Games will be held at the Ynares Arena in Pasig on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with triple-headers set for each playing date. This will go for about a month before they start the PBA 3x3 competitions, which will shift the 5-on-5 tournament's schedule to double-headers instead.

Marcial is hoping to be able to hold two conferences, with the first conference ending in October, and the second one, which would possibly host imports, expected to end in January.

There will be no fans allowed in the venue, though the commissioner expressed hopes that the situation changes by the time the second conference’s playoffs come along.

Though Marcial had previously said that it would take two weeks to prepare for the season, he said that the teams have no problem with starting the season sooner than expected.

“Yung ibang nakausap kong teams, two weeks ago, kundisyon na sila. Pwede na daw silang maglaro,” Marcial said.

“Pero sinabihan ko na rin yung mga Governors kanina, nag-re-request sila kung pwede sila mag-tuneup games. So sabi ko hintayin ko lang yung (Joint Administrative Order), baka pwede na tayo mag-tuneup games. Kahit hindi sa NCR.”

He also clarified some of the safety protocols that they will implement for the upcoming season.

Before the season begins, all players, coaches, referees and league employees are expected to take an RT-PCR test. When the season is ongoing, they also have isolation protocols set for individual players who test positive for Covid-19 (14 days) as well as protocols for their teams and opposing teams they may have played recently (7 days).

They also have stricter protocols for persons who are not fully vaccinated, as the league is not mandating full vaccinations for those participating.

Marcial, though, estimated that the PBA family is currently 95% vaccinated.

—JMB, GMA News