PBA teams will continue to practice outside of Metro Manila and provinces under NCR Plus after the government extended the stricter version of General Community Quarantine regulations in the said areas until July 15.
Metro Manila, Rizal and Bulacan are still going to be under GCQ with some restrictions while Laguna and Cavite were placed back to GCQ with heightened restrictions effective Thursday, July 1.
That means that PBA teams have no choice but to continue their full practices and scrimmages in nearby provinces like Batangas and Pampanga or a training bubble in Laoag, Ilocos Norte.
Indoor training remains prohibited in the said areas under the said regulations.
But the PBA is waiting if the Inter-Agency Task Force will allow the league to start the 46th season under a closed-circuit concept either at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City or the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Commissioner Willie Marcial said he’ll soon explain his case to the IATF, which already put the PBA’s bid to start the season up for discussion in its next meeting.
Marcial cited the success of the practices “where COVID-19 cases have been minimal to none.”
Last season’s PBA Philippine Cup champion Barangay Ginebra, San Miguel Beer, Alaska, Magnolia, Phoenix, Rain or Shine, Blackwater, NorthPort and Terrafirma have been training in Batangas.
NLEX has held practices in several gyms in Pampanga while TNT and Meralco have had multiple training bubbles in Laoag.