The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is looking to roll out its historic Season 100 on September 7 with host Lyceum of the Philippines University eyeing to mount several innovations to mark the centennial offering.
LPU athletic director and management committee chairman Hercules Callanta said the NCAA is now in the process of finalizing the plans for its 100th season where they aim to improve the overall state of the league.
"[For] Season 100 we’re looking at some innovations, mainly to address several concerns and also to make sure na what we planned in terms of enhancing NCAA is going to be fulfilled," Callanta told GMA News Online on Wednesday.
"For example, we want to increase the live audience and we have been thinking about several strategies so that the live audience can improve."
What lies ahead for Season 100
Callanta revealed that they are planning to forge a partnership with the local government unit of San Juan City, where all but the opening day matches will be held at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
Through the said collaboration, the league is hoping to have students from various public schools around the city watch the games live for free.
Callanta said they will start with San Juan and eventually expand it should it prove to be effective.
"We talked about several measures like possible CSRs (corporate social responsibility) and MOA (memorandum of agreement) with the local government unit so that we can actually give some of the students in public schools around San Juan free admission together with sports clinic," Callanta added.
In terms of sporting events, Callanta stressed the management committee is keen on retaining all events that the league has been staging for the past seasons.
However, he said that implementation of several 'sports of interest' like arnis, esports, and obstacle sports could also be in the offing, pending the approval of the board.
"Centennial na so the theme is what was before in terms of history, what is it now, and what is in store for the NCAA in the future. Eh ang future ng NCAA or any other leagues ay expansion," Callanta said.
They are also looking at bringing back the home-and-away format for men's volleyball, juniors basketball, and girls volleyball among others — a scheme that was already implemented by the league before.
Callanta said they expect to set everything in stone by the end of this month, sharing that the preparations for the opening ceremonies are already underway.
"Well sa opening ceremonies, at least the show that is going to be integrated with GMA, is already on its way by way of rehearsals. Tapos na ‘yung conceptualization. Meanwhile, the revisions to the rules are still being done," he shared.
"As far as hosting for the events, they are already established. We expect that by the end of July, everything will take form already."
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
