The PBA needs the number of coronavirus cases in the country to go down in order for its delayed 46th season to finally come off the wraps.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said this is the condition set by top government officials as he and Barangay Ginebra governor Alfrancis Chua met with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Senator Bong Go.

“They told us that the number of COVID-19 cases have to go down first. If the cases do not drop, we will not be allowed to play,” Marcial said in a press conference on Thursday, April 29.

As of April 29, the Department of Health reported nearly 70,000 active coronavirus cases and over 8,000 of new confirmed cases.

Over the past week, the daily tally of COVID-19 cases did not go below 6,000.

While the PBA had hoped that the vaccination of those involved with the league will pave the way for the season launch, its plans still relies on the decline of coronavirus cases.

This is crucial as the PBA pushes for a closed-circuit setup, in which players and team and league staff can still go home after games and practices, instead of a bubble setting.

“Even if we gets vaccines but the number of cases does not go down, then the PBA will still not start,” Marcial said.

The next step for the PBA now is to ask permission from the Inter Agency Task Force to allow its teams to start scrimmages after the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) ends in Greater Manila.

Scrimmages are still not allowed in Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, and Rizal as the government extended the MECQ period until May 14.

Although things are still up in the air, Marcial expressed optimism that the PBA can kick off the season by June and push through with its plans of staging two conferences.

“If we start in June, third week of June, we can hold two conferences. We will finish the season by December or early January.” – Rappler.com