Salud, Gregorio bare 40th season plans
SEOUL, South Korea – The PBA will have a busy calendar this season as the league bared its schedule, including a first Chairman’s Ball on the 40th year anniversary of Asia’s first professional league.
The PBA Board of Governors, chaired by Patrick Gregorio of Talk ’N Text, unanimously approved the schedule during Tuesday’s annual planning session at the Novotel Gangnam here.
The PBA will open with a double-header on Oct. 19 at the newly built 50,000-seater Philippine Arena with expansion teams Kia Motors and Blackwater squaring off in the first game and crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra San Miguel clashing with TNT.
Before that, the PBA will have the first Chairman’s Ball where a documentary entitled “Nation’s Passion” will be shown on Oct. 14 at Resort’s World Manila.
“We’ll have the premiere showing of the documentary,” Gregorio said in a media briefing with PBA commissioner Chito Salud.
“Team owners, the governors, players and their wives will be invited for a get-together,” added Gregorio.
Another important date for the PBA is the celebration of the league’s 40th anniversary on April 8 with the unveiling of “40 years of PBA” and the naming of the 40 Greatest PBA Players.
The league already has the 25 PBA Greatest Players back in 2000 Season, and a committee will be formed to elect the 15 additional players to make the 40 PBA Greatest Players.
Salud said that after the Oct. 19 opening, the league – with its three-conference format – intends to finish in 10 months on Aug. 7, 2015.
Each of the 12 teams will play a total of 11 games in the elimination round.