ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider PBA looking to build its home arena

PBA looking to build its home arena

Published Jul 23, 2024 05:59 am

At A Glance

  • The PBA continues to lay out its grand plans for the future – the biggest of which is finally realizing its  dream of having its arena where it can regularly play its games and other league-related activities.
  •  

The league is looking forward to having a place it can finally call its permanent home.

The PBA continues to lay out its grand plans for the future – the biggest of which is finally realizing its dream of having its arena where it can regularly play its games and other league-related activities.

 

MOA-crowd11.jpg
The PBA had played at MOA Arena, Araneta Coliseum, Rizal Memorial Coliseum and Ninoy Aquino Stadium last season (PBA Images)

Long brought up as a possibility during the tenure of former Sta. Lucia governor Buddy Encarnado in the 2010s and during the early years of TNT governor Ricky Vargas as Chairman of the PBA board, the dream has now come closer into a realization according to PBA commissioner Willie Marcial.

Marcial said the league is already looking at properties where the PBA’s own arena could soon rise.

“We're looking at properties in Metro Manila, about two to three hectares ang laki. Malapit na itong matuloy," disclosed Marcial during the league annual planning session at the Swissotel Nankai in Osaka.

"Mas malapit na matuloy ito ngayon kaysa noon. Dati halos one to two percent lang. Ito Ngayon, 70-75 percent,” he added.

Vargas said the PBA has found a partner who offered to build the arena as a joint venture.

"We always dreamt of a PBA arena. But not known to you, it has progressed. We have a partner that has offered to build the arena on a joint venture basis as long as we can give them the land," said Vargas.

Should be fully realized, the league will finally have a permanent venue where fans can watch its own games. Last season, the PBA bounced around Metro Manila with its games held at the Araneta Coliseum, Mall of Asia Arena, Rizal Memorial Coliseum and Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

It also played some of its games at the Caloocan Sports Complex, Ynares Sports Arena and Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo.

According to Vargas, the league spent an estimate of  P43-P45 million on venue rentals throughout the last season.

"Di bale kung babayaran namin yan sa isang coliseum para sa amin (PBA) yung buong taon. Kaso hindi, e. Paikot-ikot kami. Travelling journeyman kami," said Vargas.

"Kung walang stability, palipat-lipat tayo. Hindi malalaman ng fans kung saan tayo pupunta. "So that's a big challenge for us yung invest and build up auxiliary business,” he added.

ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.