July 16 – August 3, 2021 (before first suspension) September 1, 2021 – December 26, 2021 (first resumption, second suspension) February 11, 2022 – April 22, 2022 (second resumption)
The PBA allows for each team to have up to five players classified as "Filipino-foreigners" in their roster. Filipino-foreigners are natural-born Filipinos who are born outside the Philippines. Natural-born Filipinos born inside the Philippines are not classified as such, and a team can as many of them as roster size permits.[n 1][5]
Naturalized Filipinos and foreigners can play as imports. They can only play in import-laced conferences, and usually a team is mandated to have at least one for the duration of the tournament.
A list of imports was provided on those conferences' articles.
For the first two weeks of the 2021 PBA Governors' Cup, the league returned to the Ynares Sports Arena. Quezon City then gave the permission for sports events to be held there with spectators; the PBA was expected to play at the Araneta Coliseum for the rest of the year starting December 15.[11] At the start of 2022, the PBA was also expected to return at the Mall of Asia Arena.[12] However, with the rise of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila, the IATF-EID placed Metro Manila under alert level 3, causing the league to postpone the games for the week starting January 3.[13]
When the Governors' Cup resumed on February 11, the league announced that the games would be played at the Ynares Center in Antipolo for the duration of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification round to be played from February 24 to 28 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.[14]
The league began playing at Mall of Asia Arena on March 23 during the Governors' Cup semifinals.
The PBA Board of Governors approved a two-conference format this season. One All-Filipino tournament (Philippine Cup) to be held for four months and one import-laced tournament (Governors' Cup) to be held for six months.[3]
On March 12, Ricky Vargas of TNT KaTropa was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term as the Chairman of the PBA Board of Governors. Bobby Rosales of Terrafirma Dyip was re-elected as Vice Chairman, while Richard "Dickie" Bachmann of the Alaska Aces was elected as treasurer. Bachmann was also appointed as the chairman of the PBA 3×3 tournament. Vargas became the longest-serving head of the PBA Board of Governors since the presidency of Ginebra San Miguel's Carlos "Honeyboy" Palanca III (1983 to 1986) and the chairmanship of Formula Shell'sReynaldo Marquez (1987 to 1990).[24]
July 18: Barangay Ginebra San Miguel started wearing their "Bagong Tapang" jerseys. The jerseys replace their light uniforms. The said jerseys were launched in April and were made available to fans beginning on May 1.[26]
July 21: Four games involving the TNT Tropang Giga and the Terrafirma Dyip were postponed due to TNT players' inconclusive COVID-19 test results.[27]
August 3: The league suspended their games beginning August 4 after the government declared that Metro Manila was under Enhanced Community Quarantine from August 6 to 20. The league have appealed to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) if they can continue their tournament in Batangas, which was under a more relaxed quarantine restrictions.[28]
August 23: The league announced that they got the approval of Pampanga governor Dennis Pineda to resume their games at the Don Honorio Ventura State University in Bacolor starting September 1.[29]
November 9: The PBA board of governors have approved to revise the league's policy for Fil-foreigner to be eligible for the PBA draft. Fil-foreigners are only required to submit a Philippine passport upon application to the draft.[31] The board also increased the number of Fil-foreigner players per team from five to seven.[32]
Governors' Cup
A view of the Smart Araneta Coliseum during the halftime break of the game between the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and NorthPort Batang Pier.
December 10: The Quezon City government approved the PBA's request to play their games with spectators. The games were played at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with half capacity allowed starting December 15.[33]
January 3, 2022: The league postpones its scheduled games for the first week of January after Metro Manila was put on Alert Level 3 due to the rising COVID-19 cases.[35]
January 6: The league postpones the Governors' Cup indefinitely. Team scrimmages are also suspended.[36]
January 30: The league announced that the Governors' Cup would resume on February 11.[37] Subsequently, the league announced on February 12 that spectators were allowed to watch the games inside the playing venues beginning February 16.[38]
February 16: Alaska Aces team owner Wilfred Uytengsu announced that the franchise was leaving the PBA at the end of the 2021 season.[39]
February 18: The PBA announced that the Hong Kong-based Bay Area Chun Yu Phoenixes from EASL would enter the league as a guest team during the Governors' Cup of season 47.[40] Their participation was formally announced on March 21.[41] It was also announced that the team would compete under the name Bay Area Dragons, so as not to confuse their nickname with current PBA team Phoenix Super LPG.[42]
February 28: After the IATF-EID announced that Metro Manila would be under Alert Level 1 from March 1 to 15, the league announced that the Smart Araneta Coliseum would be back to full capacity starting on March 2.[43]
March 19: The Alaska Aces played its final PBA game after being eliminated by the NLEX Road Warriors in their do-or-die quarterfinal game, 96–80. At the end of the game, the league held a short tribute to the Alaska franchise then Commissioner Willie Marcial sounded the ceremonial "final buzzer" at center court.[45]
March 23: The PBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of the Alaska franchise to Converge ICT Solutions Inc. Former PBA commissioner Chito Salud became its team governor.[46]
April 20: A fire broke out at the construction area beside the Smart Araneta Coliseum at around 11:00 am while the games of the 2021 PBA 3x3 second conference grand finals was underway. The 3x3 games were postponed and subsequently, Game 6 of the Governors' Cup finals between Barangay Ginebra and Meralco were rescheduled to April 22.[47]
Opening ceremonies
The opening ceremony for this season was held at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig on July 16, 2021. Due to COVID-19 related restrictions, the traditional parade of teams with muses was not done and a “simple” opening ceremonies were held instead.[48]
Source: PBA.ph Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) if two teams are tied, head-to-head record; if three or more teams are tied, head-to-head goal average (quotient), if tied for 8th, one-game playoff; 3) overall quotient 4) coin toss[49] Notes:
^ abHead-to-head record: NorthPort 1–0 Rain or Shine
Source: PBA.ph Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) if two teams are tied, head-to-head record; if three or more teams are tied, head-to-head goal average (quotient), if tied for 8th, one-game playoff; 3) overall quotient 4) coin toss[50] Notes:
^ abcHead-to-head quotient: TNT 1.07, Meralco 0.99, San Miguel 0.95
^Nationality indicates the player's place of birth, and may not necessarily hold the associated foreign citizenship. All players have Filipino citizenship.
