THE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is inching its way towards a potential return and league commissioner Willie Marcial is making sure that the proper protocols are in place if and when that happens.
The 2020 season of the PBA had played just one game before it was indefinitely suspended to help protect the players, officials and fans from the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. But as the government moves to ease the restrictions it has implemented on sports activities and mass gatherings, Marcial said they have to have guidelines in place to ensure everyone involved is kept safe.
Marcial said these guidelines include spraying every person that goes through the players’ entrance with sanitizers. There will also be sanitizing floor mats that everyone would be required to step on placed at the various entrances.
Marcial said he will be proposing these and more to the league’s board members in a meeting on June 3, which will be their first meeting since the pandemic broke out. Chairman Ricky Vargas will lead the meeting.
The international governing body of basketball — FIBA — recently published a document that outlined recommended actions for national federations to follow if and when basketball games are allowed to resume. Marcial added that he has combed through the document and said that he will be adding even more safeguards.
Marcial is hoping that teams may now be allowed to practice in small groups under the general community quarantine (GCQ) so that players may be prepared once games are allowed.