Ninoy Aquino Stadium reemerges as PBA venue

MANILA, Philippines – The historic Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila is among the arenas that will host PBA games in the upcoming Philippine Cup.

The PBA on Thursday released the game schedule for the upcoming All-Filipino conference, which will start on February 28, Wednesday.

On April 6, the Blackwater Bossing will face the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, the first PBA game at the venue in more than a decade.

The second game of the double-header will be between the NLEX Road Warriors and the Magnolia Hotshots.

Six other game days will be played at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, which now sports the 2023 FIBA World Cup flooring.

In the upcoming conference, there will also be game days that will have two separate venues — one in Metro Manila and the other in the province.

On April 13, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters will take on the Terrafirma Dyip at the Caloocan Sports Complex at 3 p.m.

The final game of the double-header will be between the TNT Tropang Giga and NLEX in Candon, Ilocos Sur.

The next Saturday, the Phoenix Fuel Masters will play the Road Warriors at the Ynares Arena in Pasig, while Rain or Shine will face Magnolia in Tiaong, Quezon.

On April 27, Blackwater will face NorthPort at the Caloocan Sports Complex, while Converge will battle crowd darlings Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in Cagayan de Oro City.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial on Thursday said that the league will also consider the Rizal Memorial Coliseum for games.

“I talked with [Philippine Sports Commission Richard] Bachmann when we inspected the Ninoy Aquino Stadium. I said that I am hoping that the Rizal will be built, so we can schedule San Miguel and Meralco, the two teams that last played there, and we would use retro jerseys,” Marcial told reporters in Filipino.

“We are looking into possibly playing in Rizal [Memorial Coliseum] this season, but the goals are not yet installed. But they already have the flooring.”

On the first day of the conference, the Terrafirma Dyip will clash with the Converge FiberXers at the Ynares Center in Antipolo at 4:30 p.m.

In the second game set at 7:30 p.m., the NorthPort Batang Pier will collide with the NLEX Road Warriors also at the same Antipolo venue.

Aside from the two venues, games will also be played at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.