Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA—The Philippine Basketball Association, in line with its commitment to give something back to its fans, will play at least one game in Dubai each year for the next five seasons.
This was a promise made by commissioner Chito Salud to a huge assembly of overseas Filipino workers as he stressed that the PBA is in that oil-rich emirate not to make money.
“In terms of earning a profit, it doesn’t make much sense (playing here) because we could easily make money if we were to stage these games in Manila,” Salud said during the launch of a two-game schedule here.
“The PBA is in Dubai for love and affection to our countrymen,” said Salud.
“We all say that the OFWs are our modern-day heroes. We don’t just pay lip service. We’re doing what we can, going out to provide them some entertainment,” added the commissioner.
“We are reaching out to our OFWs because we feel we owe them a debt of gratitude,” added Salud to the wild approval of the OFWs.
Salud made the commitment to the Dubai-based Filipino Basketball Center, headed by Ramon Pizarras.
The FBC is very active in organizing cage events, including one that had the Smart-Gilas National team playing a series of games.
A huge discount, according to the PBA Commissioner’s Office, was given to the FBC for the group to be able to bring the Talk ‘N Text vs B-Meg and TNT vs Barangay Ginebra games to Dubai.
The grand slam-seeking Tropang Texters battle the Llamados first (Thursday, 11 p.m. Manila time) before slugging it out with the Gin Kings the following night at the same time.
Talk ‘N Text hopes to return to Manila with a semifinal seat in its pocket and keep its unblemished record.
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