After two years, college sports fans are now able to watch their favorite athletes and teams (back) in action.
Local collegiate sports action is indeed back as the NCAA and UAAP have set their respective opening ceremonies on March 26, 2022. It would be the first for the latter, which was forced to cancel its 83rd season set for last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, for the former, it would be their second during this pandemic as they elected to have their 96th season to be truncated — with contact sports like basketball and volleyball visibly absent from NCAA season 96. Season 97, however, will also be their first time in two years to have contact sports.
The decision to stage contact sports anew came after the easing of COVID restrictions in the National Capital Region, which was downgraded to Alert Level 1 on March 1. Under rules set by the IATF, such sports can only be played in areas under Alert Levels 1 to 3, with varying degrees of audience capacity allowed. Speaking of which, both leagues have since confirmed that they won’t admit fans inside the playing venues just yet.
Interestingly, apart from the March 26 start date, it would be the first time in more than seven years that the two collegiate sporting leagues will be housed on different broadcasters. After the dissolution of ABS-CBN Sports in August 2020 — a result of the Congress’ denial of a fresh franchise for the network — the two, among other leagues previously covered by ABS, were forced to find new homes.
For NCAA, it picked Kamuning-based GMA Network as its new partner in November 2020. The move of the “oldest collegiate athletics league” to the Kapuso turf has also been a driving factor for the rebrand of its secondary channel GMA News TV to GTV in February 2021. GTV covered season 96 in its entirety.
The said setup will still remain true for this season, with GTV airing matches every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, beginning at 12:00nn to 5:30pm. Replay telecasts will be every Monday and Thursday. A special primer will air every weekday morning at 10:30am, also on GTV. GMA channel 7 will also join the broadcast of the opening ceremony on the 26th, similar to what it had done last year.
La Salle Greenhills gymnasium will be the venue for NCAA’s opening ceremony.
Meanwhile, over at the UAAP, they opted to go the Reliance-Novaliches route after signing with Cignal-TV5. Under their partnership with the MVP-owned media group, the league was able to launch a 24/7 pay TV channel showcasing its archive of past games via the UAAP Varsity Channel on Cignal. The said channel is also expected to carry fresh matches once the new season commences.
Free TV channel One Sports is expected to air games live every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
The UAAP games will be held in several venues spread across the region, including the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Ynares Center in Pasig, among others.
The return of the two collegiate leagues signifies the recovery of the local sporting industry, which was heavily affected by the numerous lockdowns and restrictions in the two years since the pandemic began.