PBA to bring North-South format back in All-Star

MANILA, Philippines — PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said yesterday the pro league will revive the traditional North against South rivalry in the annual All-Star Game with the top two teams in the standings represented by their coaching staff in this season’s edition in Calasiao next month.

“The All-Star Game honors the top performing coaches so the Board of Governors wants to keep the high level of prestige,” said Marcial.  “We’ll set a cut-off to determine the top two teams with the No. 1 coach for the North and the No. 2 coach for the South.”  It was in 2016 when the PBA last held the North-South All-Star Game.

Last year, there were three All-Star Games played in Batangas for Luzon, Iloilo for the Visayas and Davao for Mindanao.  The All-Star coaches were San Miguel Beer’s Leo Austria for Luzon, Magnolia’s Chito Victolero for the Visayas and Ginebra’s Tim Cone for Mindanao.  They called the shots for the PBA All-Stars against a Gilas selection that varied its lineups as national players joined the opposing team if they were from the host region.  JuneMar Fajardo, for instance, suited up for Gilas in the Luzon and Mindanao legs but switched to the PBA All-Stars in the Visayas game.

This year, the PBA will stage the All-Star Week in only one location. There were two promoters who expressed intent to host the All-Star event with Calasiao’s Double V Productions of Vijay Vasandani eventually getting the nod.  The other promoter planned to hold it out of the country.  The last All-Star event held in one place was in 2016 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

It will be the 13th staging of the North-South format which was introduced in 1992.  The All-Star event was institutionalized in 1989 with the Veterans playing a squad made up of Rookies, Sophomores and Juniors in the highlight game at the PhilSports Arena (Ultra) in Pasig.  Since this year is the 30th anniversary of the All-Star extravaganza, Marcial said the 1989 uniforms will be worn in Calasiao as a retro tribute.

Marcial said it’s not possible to plan for Gilas’ participation in the All-Star Game this year.  “No time to adjust for Gilas even if we qualify for the World Cup,” he said.  “We’re doing just one game instead of three because it would be too taxing for the players if we did the same format last year.  We’ve compressed our schedule for the Philippine Cup because of our commitment to Gilas so it’s been very hectic for our players.”

Marcial said the All-Star bandwagon will roll in Calasiao on March 28-31.  On the first day, Thursday, the PBA will do CSR activities then on the second day, it will be a game between the rookies and sophomores plus the skills competitions – the Obstacle Challenge (featuring only bigs, not guards, to test their handles), Three-Point Shootout, Shooting Stars Challenge and the Slam Dunk Contest.  The climax will be on Sunday with the All-Star Game.

“We’re excited to bring the All-Star event to Calasiao,” said Marcial.  “Double V is rolling out the red carpet for our players.  Vijay and his group do an amazing job in promoting the PBA.  Last Saturday, Calasiao hosted the game between Ginebra and Rain Or Shine and we were jam-packed.  This will be a milestone in the PBA’s history because it’s the 30th anniversary of our All-Star Game and we’re happy that Calasiao will be our host for this landmark event.”