THE Mall of Asia Arena will be the venue of 5-on-5 basketball of the 30th Southeast Asian Games, Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Executive Director Tats Suzara confirmed on Wednesday.
A week after the news broke that basketball was moved to the much smaller Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City, the Phisgoc finally reached an agreement with SM Prime Holdings—owner of the huge indoor arena—to host the centerpiece event of the biennial games.
“We are happy about this news. This was confirmed after a fruitful meeting this morning,” Suzara said. “This is a big news for all basketball fans. This is a lucky day.”
The Mall of Asia Arena, a 20,000-seat multipurpose stadium located in the SM Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City, is one of the major venues of the Philippine Basketball Association, University Athletics Association of the Philippines and other sporting events.
It was expected that the MOA Arena, and the Smart Araneta Coliseum, will host basketball because of their size.
But the two venues begged off last week, according to Suzara, because they have long been booked on the same dates the SEA Games are set from November 30 to December 11. Phisgoc considered Filoil Flying V Centre as an option because it is the only available venue.
The news received negative feedbacks from fans because the San Juan could only accommodate a little more than 5,000 spectators.
Besides basketball, the MOA Arena will also host speed skating, ice skating, ice hockey and eSports.
The 3-on-3 basketball will still be at the Filoil.