LET’S GET IT ON – The biggest show is back

By Neil Bravo
The PBA will be back in town on March 14.
What can we expect: Jampacked crowd, sweaty arena, scalpers at the gates, and traffic along Obrero Street.
Give in to a lot of nightmares with the stature of the teams playing this time around. You have Talk N’ Text which leads the Commissioner’s Cup with a 6-2 win-loss record and Purefoods Star Hotshots which is right behind the leaders with a 5-3 mark.
The players of both teams too are certified crowd drawers. Jayson Castro, Larry Fonacier, Kelly Williams and Harvey Carey with exciting rookies Matt Rosser-Ganuelas and Kevin Alas for the TNT side. Hometown hero PJ Simon, poster boy James Yap, Marc Pingris, Joe Devance, Justin Melton and Ian Sangalang for Purefoods.
Throw in too the built-in rivalry between these two squads. One is owned by San Miguel Corporation (Purefoods) and another is owned by the MVP group of Manny Pangilinan (TNT).
Davao City could not ask for more. It’s a dream match to be exact.
That is why I understand if the organizers say 90 percent of the tickets have been sold out. Whew. That’s more than a week before gametime. Architect Hector Magno, president of the organizing ArkiQuest, was even hesitant to promote the event at the weekly Fast Fridays media forum.
“Ubos na ang tickets,” he said smilingly.
It’s a stark contrast from the last PBA promotion the group brought to Davao City with Meralco and Rain Or Shine. Magno admitted the game did not sell well at the ticket office. Add to that the heavy downpour during gametime which prevented many basketball fans from coming and buying their tickets at the gate.
In that PBA game, Magno said they have sold just 25 percent going into the last week of ticket sales. This time, they have 90 percent tickets sold and can perhaps sit down and smile.
We expect a huge interest in this game and with the PBA’s popularity, this one should be a knockout of a promotion.
However, the venue we can offer the PBA at the moment is but a 7,000-capacity arena at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP). This venue pales in comparison to the bigger venues in neighboring Digos City and Panabo City. This led me to ask if Davao City can host a bigger PBA event like the PBA All Stars.
Magno and his peers admit it is not possible. The PBA is amenable only to a bigger venue that can possibly carry at least 10,000 given the enormous amount needed to bring the All Stars to the road.
But hope spring eternal. There’s the Kingdome of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy now under construction. Once completed, the PBA All Stars is peanuts. Bring in the NBA. Or a Manny Pacquiao fight.
For now, let’s savor the PBA in its grandest rivalry—SMC versus MVP.
NOTES: Listen to “Let’s Get It On with Neil Bravo” at 105.9 Balita FM every Saturdays 8 am to 10 am. You may email this writer at bravoneil@rocketmail.com.