By JONAS TERRADO
PBA fans will be allowed to once again watch up-close the games of the Governors’ Cup starting Feb. 16 after the league opted to hold the first week of the resumption at the Smart Araneta Coliseum behind closed doors.
Commissioner Willie Marcial made the announcement during the halftime of Rain or Shine’s victory over NorthPort Saturday, adding that the capacity will depend on the alert level status in Metro Manila.
The National Capital Region is currently under Alert Level 2 which allows the PBA to hold the season-ending conference before a 50-percent audience.
But the first three playdates of the resumption, a stretch that ends Sunday, were staged without an audience as the PBA wanted to slowly bring back things to almost near-normalcy.
“Pinapayagan naman tayo ng government pero tinitignan muna natin kung ano ang magiging itsura at kung papaano ang mga players dinadahan-dahan ko,” Marcial said. “Pero nakita natin na maganda ang nangyayari so go na tayo.”
Fans will still require to present a proof showing they were fully vaccinated and a valid ID before being permitted to enter the venue.
Ticket prices remained slashed at 50-percent, the same arrangement during a two-week period in late-December when the league returned to Araneta for the first time since the pandemic.
Teams witnessed fans attend eight playdates, including close to 5,000 on Christmas Day before last month’s COVID-19 surge and the return to a stricter Alert Level 3 regulations in NCR forced the league to suspend the conference.
Five doubleheaders will cover the Araneta games before action shifts to the Ynares Center in Antipolo City for the duration of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers which the historic Cubao venue will host.
Marcial said the downward trend of COVID-19 cases plus figures that 100 percent of the players are fully vaccinated while 95 percent have received their booster shots were among the factors that convinced the league to decide on re-opening the gates.
“Dire-diretso na (mula Wednesday) hanggang di pa tayo pinipigilan,” Marcial said.
