PBA Quarantine Cup Proposal: The most realistic low-cost way to resume the league!

The decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to push back the National Capital Region and nearby provinces to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine gave a huge blow to the planned return to the practice of the PBA. 

According to Commissioner Willie Marcial, the maximum possible date of starting the season is the 2nd week of October.

Now, the #1 question of PBA fans today is, why can't the PBA follow the way NBA is conducting their season?

According to the Commissioner, the cost is very high for them.

So, I did my best in finding the best cost-friendly way of them resuming games. What I am proposing will still be more costly than what they currently planned. But, I think, this is more realistic and will still be fun and exciting. So, here are the steps.

#1. Push through with the practices. Let the teams be the ones to find the gym in the regions under GCQ that will allow them to practice. I think the protocols that they planned will work. Although, I suggest that they will do it in only around two weeks. I think, their assumption that the level of play will be bad with quick practice time is not right. Although, they will need to ask the players about it. Nevertheless, we are talking about professional players here. It is their job to keep their bodies in shape. 

#2. A single round-robin is possible for the elimination round. 

#3 The key now is to find the nearest gyms to NCR that is under GCQ that will allow them to play. Knowing that there will be no fans, the league should not be choosy about it. 

#4  What they should do is to play back-to-back games every week for each team, dividing the 12 teams to two sets each week. So, they need to have two gyms every week to play on. And some more as a back-up.

Why back-to-back? So, they only need to have a single swab test for two games. In their current plan, one swab test will be done every game. 

Why do they need to have two sets? Just to make sure that if there are positive cases, the whole league doesn't need to shut down.

#5 With that, they need six weeks to complete the elimination round.

#6 For the playoffs, I will suggest a bubble-type already, like the NBA. During the playoffs, it will impact its marketability if star players get COVID-19. What the PBA can do is to make it as short as possible, depending on their budget.

#7 So, what will happen if players get positive for COVID-19?

Those positive players should be treated as a normal positive case. At the very least, they will miss around 21 days. This should then make the players realize how crucial it is for them to be COVID-19 free. So, if they are responsible, knowing that their season could end because of them, they will do their best to be disciplined.