After salvaging their 45th season by holding the Philippine Cup in a biosecure bubble in Clark, Pampanga, the PBA is now hoping to hold at least two conferences this year.
The PBA successfully completed its All-Filipino conference in Clark in early December, with Barangay Ginebra emerging as champions of the tournament that saw all 12 teams stay in the bubble.
While it remains to be seen if the league will hold its conferences in another bubble, PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial has said that they are hopeful they can hold more than one competition in 2021.
"Tingnan natin kung kakayanin natin ang three conferences. Kung hindi, baka two," Marcial said during an appearance on "Power and Play" with former PBA Commissioner Noli Eala.
"At least two conferences lang ang magagawa natin," he added. "Kung makakagawa ng tatlo, good. Pero at least two conferences, pilitin natin, magawa natin for next year."
Given the restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was all but impossible to hold import conferences in 2020. Marcial acknowledged that the situation with the health crisis will dictate whether they can hold at least one import conference this coming year as well.
He is hoping that by June, there will be more clarity regarding the pandemic, particularly when it comes to travel restrictions. The Philippines has currently banned foreigners from 20 countries until January 15 because of the new COVID-19 variant.
"Siguro by June, July, makikita na natin ang galawan," said Marcial.
"One, papayag ba ang import na pumunta dito? Two, 'pag pumunta ba ang import dito, may quarantine pa ba?" he added. "So iniintay natin."
One possibility that Marcial is looking forward to is that the prospective imports will already be vaccinated even before they sign with PBA teams.
"Baka may vaccine na sila. Pagpunta nila dito, may vaccine na sila. So, safe sila, at hindi na sila mahahawa," he said, noting that this will likely make the imports more willing to travel to the Philippines to play.
"Sabi nila, siguro by then may vaccine na lahat ng mga Amerikano, sana, ang mga imports. So hindi na sila takot bumyahe, hindi na sila matatakot lumaro sa atin, hindi na rin sila matatakot mahawa, kasi may vaccine na sila," he said.
"So sana, ganoon."
There are still plenty of questions that are up in the air regarding the next PBA season, but these questions won't be answered until February or March, said Marcial. Most of their plans will of course hinge on government regulations, as Marcial notes that they need the go-signal of the Inter-Agency Task Force to push through with their competitions.
"Anong papayagan ng gobyerno, para makapaglaro ang PBA?" he said. "So as of now, hindi ko pa masagot. Siguro by February or March, malalaman na natin."
"Pero ang balak pa rin natin, matuloy doon sa anniversary natin ng April 9, kung papalarin tayo," he added.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/03/21/pba-eyeing-at-least-two-conferences-for-46th-season
