PVL moves season opener to March 16, will have different format to give way to SEA Games

The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is moving the Open Conference from its original date of February 16 to March 16 and will feature a different format to give way to the country's participation in the Vietnam SEA Games in May.

The league on Friday said the games will be staged until April 9 and will either be staged in a bubble in Batangas or Cavite or in a full closed-circuit in Metro Manila, if the PVL is allowed to do so.

Aside from that, the Open Conference will also observe a pool setup, a first of its kind in the pioneering league.

"We asked the member teams to give us their inputs and their concerns," said Sports Vision and PVL president Ricky Palou in a statement. "After putting all of this together, we decided that the best thing to do for us at this point in time is to move the opening to mid-March.

"But we have to shorten our conference to make way for the training of the national team."

In this format, the nine competing teams — Chery Tiggo, Creamline, Petro Gazz, Choco Mucho, Philippine Army, PLDT Home Fibr, BaliPure, Cignal, and F2 Logistics — will be divided into two pools in the regular season with one pool having five teams.

The top four teams in each pool will advance to the knockout quarterfinals with no team from the pool of four being eliminated.

According to PVL, teams are already seeking clearance from their respective local government units for permission to train. Approval from both Games and Amusements Board (GAB) and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) are also required for teams to restart with team practices.

"We are also looking at the possibility of holding it here in Metro Manila depending on the situation," said Palou. "By mid-February, we will know what our alert level will be."

—JMB, GMA News