BY REY C. LACHICA
Collegiate leagues have also fallen on hard times due to the impact of coronavirus pandemic that some intend to lay down hard-to-do decisions soon to keep their annual sports festivals going.
Even the NCAA, the country’s oldest collegiate league, is reportedly reducing the number of sports it will stage for the coming season – which was pushed back early next year – as part of its cost-cutting measures.
An official who spoke on condition that he will not be named revealed that some schools are having great difficulty financially that they agreed to prune down the events to just four which requires minimal budget.
The mandatory sports, he said, are basketball, volleyball, swimming and athletics which all be held next year with hopes that everything is back to normal, including the safety of everybody.
“Halos lahat naman ng member schools are in crisis,” said the source, who added that the league’s Management Committee held a meeting last Thursday to discuss several hot issues including the plight of its TV carrier – ABS-CBN.
The source refused to detail what the ManCom had reached with regards to its TV carrier but the league is likely to stick with the giant network which was shut down early last month after its contract expired.
But once all member schools have recovered from the gnawing effect of COVID-19, the NCAA will immediately re-stage the events that will be scrapped in the coming season.
Likely to be affected are badminton, chess, football, lawn tennis, soft tennis, table tennis, cheerleading and taekwondo.
Despite the planned four-event season, incoming host Letran is out to pull all the stops to make the season worthy to remember.
Meantime, University of the Philippines coach Bo Perasol said he was not surprised that some collegiate teams are now forced to reduce the allowances of their players.
On their case, Perasol said his players and coaching staff are still receiving their allowances but made minor adjustments due to current situation.
“Our team is mainly dependent on our major sponsors so we have to be sensitive with their financial standings due to global crisis,” Perasol said in a text message. “For the meantime, minus muna ang mga food allowances and others kasi wala pa naman practice.”
Though upset by the news that Technological Institute of the Philippines has disbanded all its varsity teams, Perasol sees more schools to follow due to funding constraints.
