Home-and-away format in Cesafi basketball? Coaches like it, commissioner says not just yet

The newly renovated UV gym could be one of the possible venues for Cesafi basketball games. | CDN file

Cebu City, Philippines—With the University of the Visayas (UV) and just recently, Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma, unveiling newly-refurbished gymnasiums, several Cesafi coaches are amenable to the idea of the league adopting a home-and-away format to better engage each school’s student body.

With the game’s attendance — or lack thereof — always becoming a hot topic during the Cesafi season, University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars head coach Leode Garcia said this will help raise even more support for the participating teams and the league itself.

“That’s one thing that I think the Cesafi should really look at — the home and away format. What good will our great gyms be if they aren’t used for purposes like this?” said Garcia of USJ-R’s air-conditioned gym over in Pardo, which has already played host to PBA teams and MPBL games.

Read more: Green Lancers eager to try newly renovated UV gym

“This will be good for the league’s attendance,” he added.

SWU-Phinma Baby Cobras head coach Jerry Abuyabor expressed that adopting this kind of format will help build the school’s fan base once again.

“Absolutely, this will be good for the league as it will revive the school fan base of the Cesafi,” the youthful coach said.

Veteran and many-time champion head coach Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba of the University of Cebu (UC), is also in favor of this idea, albeit he suggested a few tweaks.

“I’ve long been in favor of this home-and-away concept. But I think the games during the weekdays could be held at the schools so that students can go straight from their classes to attend games. But during the weekends, since there are no classes, games can just be held at the Cebu Coliseum,” said Alcoseba.

Cesafi commissioner Felix “Boy” Tiukinhoy said he is open to the idea but he personally believes it can’t be done yet until there are enough suitable venues available.

“It’s too early to decide if we should push through with that,” he said.

According to the long-time commissioner, he only sees three venues that are capable of hosting Cesafi games, one of them is the newly renovated Aznar Coliseum. 

Tiukinhoy said the idea has already been brought up to the Cesafi Board of Directors for further scrutiny. /bmjo