The biggest basketball league in the Philippines is back for another round of esports action.
Basketball and esports fans are united once again as the PBA Esports Bakbakan is back with another season of Dota 2 action. Partnering once again with Dark League Studios, it’s the event’s fifth iteration but only the second showing for Dota 2.
This time they’re aiming to go bigger and better with bigger stakes and a bigger prize. Twelve PBA teams, represented by their own team of Dota 2 hopefuls, will battle it out for the lion’s share of 500,000 Php. Teams have until October 6 to register for the event. Registered teams will then prove themselves in the qualifiers for the chance to be drafted by a PBA team.
Once all 12 teams have been decided, things will really start to heat up on October 24. All 12 teams will go through three rounds of Swiss single round-robin matches until only four remain. Then, the last two teams will get to play in a live venue on November 22 to determine who will be the PBA Esports Bakbakan champion for season two of Dota 2.
“Malaki [ang contibution ng PBA Esports], kasi napagsama namin yung basketball at gaming and esports,” said PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial. “Yung kultura ay iba pero napagsama namin. So natutunan ng mga basketball fans na manood ng gaming. Tapos yung mga gamers natin natuto din manood ng basketball, so it’s a win-win situation for esports and PBA.”
“This program of the PBA creates an opportunity for the grassroots scene,” said Dark League Studios CEO AC Valdenor. “It gives them to be potentially be seen, known, and even represent one of the professional teams we have in the Philippines.”
“There’s already an established branding with PBA, and when you bring PBA into esports it creates a different dimension,” continued AC. “It gives an impression to the youth that the top basketball league in the Philippines doesn’t only focus on basketball. It shows that the PBA also focuses on supporting what they love to do.”
Banner photo from PBA Images.