MANILA – Philippine Basketball Association commissioner Willie Marcial is doubtful if foreign players are willing to take risk serving as reinforcements in the league this season due to coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.
“Posibleng no imports,” said Marcial. “Ang problema kasi may papayag bang imports na pumunta dito sa atin ngayon? At syempre, may takot din tayong tanggapin sila sa atin ngayon. Makikipaglaro ba ang players natin sa kanila?”
“At kung may pumunta man, kailangan pa ng 14-day quarantine period. At pag nagpalit ka ng import, another 14-day quarantine period,” he added.
According to the commissioner, the league’s focus for now is to salvage at least its stalled 2020 Philippine Cup which only played a game before postponement.
The PBA is still waiting for its teams to return to practices and for the games to resume as it is the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) that will give the go signal.
“Kapag pinayagan tayo ng IATF na magsimula uli within this year, all-Filipino tayo. ‘Yun ang logical na dapat nating gawin,” said Marcial.
If ever the next two conferences after the Philippine Cup will not tip-off this season, this will mark the first time the league will see no imports for an entire season for the first time after almost 36 years. During the economic crisis in 1984, the PBA held back-to-back All-Filipino conferences in an effort to help teams cut on their respective operating expenses.
After seeing how gate attendance suffered, however, the PBA Board eventually relented on bringing the import-reinforced format back in time for the Invitational Championship, which was the final conference of the season./PN
