No June 12 opening for MPBL

THERE will be no traditional Independence Day opening this time for the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) due to the complications of setting up a bubble venue amid the uncertainties of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We all wanted to resume but we are facing so many challenges with regards to the application for resumption with the government,” MPBL Commissioner Kenneth Duremdes told Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association forum. “If we cannot start on June 12, we’re looking at either July or August.”

The MPBL’S first two seasons—datu and Lakan Cups—opened on Independence Day. The league named its third season as the

Chooks-to-go Mumbaki Cup.

Duremdes said the Subic Bay Freeport Zone remains the most ideal venue for the bubble Mumbaki Cup, where he expects 19 teams to participate.

He said the MPBL delegation could be more than 300 players, officials and personnel, adding a six games a week schedule could take no more than three months to complete.

Duremdes said the complications of a bubble setup includes not only earning the approval of the Inter-agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, but also with several local government units and the Department of Health.

He also said the MPBL is still negotiating with a television partner.