NCAA to Hold 4 Events for Season 96

The good news is: the San Beda Red Lions will get a chance to grab the men's basketball championship back to Mendiola.

The not-so-good news is: Season 96 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will only have four events with basketball being among the sports that we're going to see.

And this has been considered as inevitable as the world of sports is still trying to pick itself up after getting impacted by the still ongoing 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic that forced sports to go on an indefinite hiatus.

And while it's still a question of when Season 96 will open, we're now getting a bit more of clarity as to what we can expect from the NCAA. 

Just a few weeks ago, the league has indicated that it's looking into the possibility of including Esports as an event for Season 96. And now, we just learned the exact number of events that the league will hold come next season.

It has been revealed by Hercules Callanta- Athletics Director of the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU), that the NCAA is aiming to hold four events for Season 96: basketball, volleyball, swimming, and track and field.  

For one, this development may have been pushed by the fact that some of the member schools of the NCA have already taken cost-cutting measures due to the financial blow that is brought about by the pandemic. Letran, who won the men's basketball championship last year, has already announced that it will not join in nine NCAA events next season as part of their cost-cutting measures. 

The league management said that holding a limited number of events is something that "must be done" or the league will stop everything. Callanta also assured that "The NCAA will not make it difficult for the member institution to participate even if it's just one competition or an entire tournament" while also adding that the league doesn't want any of its member schools to take a leave of absence by making the assurance that it will be ready to accommodate all of the needs of the schools. 

This development now provides more clarity and that will give fans something to look forward to. It's just now the question of when. And how. 

Photo is from Rappler