Sep 13, 2020

Key talks on eyed PBA restart up Wednesday, Thursday

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial will once again have a dialogue with the players Wednesday before attending another round of meeting with the PBA board Thursday where the decision on the planned PBA bubble could finally be made.

Marcial will open the table for suggestions and recommendations from the players as the league has the safety and welfare of everybody as paramount concern in the eyed season resumption.

"Mahalaga ang input nila especially they're the ones going to play and entertain the PBA fans," said Marcial.

All 12 teams will be represented as in their previous meeting in the initial stage of the planning for the season reboot.

Marcial is expecting 24 players, including Ginebra's LA Tenorio, San Miguel's Chris Ross, Magnolia's Marc Pingris, NorthPort's Sean Anthony, TNT's Jayson Castro, Meralco's Reynel Hugnatan, NLEX's Asi Taulava, Blackwater's Mac Belo, Rain or Shine's Gabe Norwood, Phoenix's Matthew Wright, Alaska's Vic Manuel and Terra Firma's CJ Perez.

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Key points for the league include the bubble model, and tournament format and venue if the league were to play amidst the pandemic by October.

The league board had its initial meeting Friday where it decided to trim down to three the aspiring hosts for the bubble tourney.

Twenty hotels or sites have signified intention to host the PBA, including four who made formal presentations.

"We're not able to talk about the tournament format as our meeting was interrupted for more than an hour by brownout," said Marcial of the meeting where one governor was then hooked online.

But a number of PBA personalities have come in the open to bat for a compact tourney.

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Marcial said they have a number of formats to present and discuss with the board. (SB)