Import-spiced tourney set as VisMin Cup begins life with Cris Bautista as commissioner

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA—Foreign players are set to invade the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup as the league's second season begins with a reinforced conference.

New league commissioner Cris Bautista confirmed on Sunday that the VisMin Cup's 2022 calendar will open with a tournament similar to the PBA Commissioner's Cup.

He then revealed that the Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Reinforced Conference will begin in the second week of March and will run for a month.

Regarding the imports, Bautista said that there will be no height limit for the recruits unlike this year's PBA Governors' Cup, in which a 6'6" ceiling has been set.

Also, he said that the teams can sign up foreign reinforcements even if they did not play in the CESAFI during their college days.

"Pwede kang mag-import sa [United] States. Pagdating mo rito, walang problema," Bautista said, adding that the league will just follow the COVID-19 protocols set for incoming foreigners.

Meanwhile, Bautista also said that the field for the upcoming VisMin Cup reinforced conference is not that big.

"Ang target namin is a minimum of six teams and a maximum of eight teams," he revealed.

He then bared that some teams have confirmed their participation but kept mum on the identities of the said squads.

The format of the conference will depend on the final number of participating clubs.

Right now, Bautista is looking at two locations to hold the import-spiced event.

"Ang first venue na tinitignan namin is Zamboanga City, and then the second option is MisOr (Misamis Oriental)," Bautista revealed.

He added that he will do an ocular visit to both prospective venues before the end of February.

On whether fans get to see live action in flesh will depend on the community quarantine status of the chosen host city.

Currently, Zamboanga City and Misamis Oriental's capital, Cagayan De Oro, are under Alert Level 3, meaning only pro sports bubbles are allowed to take place.

But with active cases starting to dwindle in numbers, it is expected that by early March, both cities would be placed under Alert Level 2, which would mean fans can watch the games at a 50-percent arena limit.

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