PBA chairman Ricky Vargas finally caved into the question regarding the cost of the league’s planned season bubble in Clark, Pampanga next month.
Vargas told former league commissioner Noli Eala on the latter’s radio program Saturday that the PBA will spend close to P65 million in order to make the bubble a reality.
“I think the commissioner has always stayed away from that question but I’ll tell you that it’s close to P65 million, which is a cost to us,” Vargas said in the program Power and Play on 92.3 News FM.
The representative TNT KaTropa said majority of the cost will come from the accommodation and food, and it would have cost more had the PBA was given discounts.
Players, coaches, PBA officials and staff will be housed at the Quest Hotel for the bubble season while games are going to be played at the campus of Angeles University Foundation which is about 10 minutes away.
“Ang pinaka-part sa cost is the accommodation and the food, so we got a lot of discounts,” said Vargas, who added that COVID-19 testing for everyone involved will also be free.
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Vargas twice declined revealing the amount after Thursday’s board meeting that saw the PBA accepting Clark as its bubble host.
But Vargas did say that the PBA and not the teams will shoulder the cost of the Clark bubble, which the league hopes can proceed on Oct. 9 pending the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force.
Should the PBA get an IATF approval, teams can start entering the bubble on Sept. 27 where they'll be allowed to hold scrimmages prior to the season restart.
“We have enough cash flow to be able to sponsor this whole tournament,” Vargas said after Thursday’s meeting.