Game Sunday (Araneta Coliseum)
4:30 p.m. – Opening Ceremonies
6:30 p.m. – Burger King vs Purefoods

The PBA hopes to make its 35th season a banner year, one that would remind fans of its glorious history such as when Crispa and Toyota reigned and superstars prowled the courts.

In Wednesday’s press conference to announce the upcoming season, PBA officials said the days when stars such as Atoy Co, Robert Jaworski, Philip Cezar, Ramon Fernandez, Bogs Adornado, and Francis Arnaiz defined the league might be at hand with proper promotion and keen competition.

“That’s one challenge we really want to highlight,” PBA commissioner Renauld "Sonny" Barrios said.
 
“There’s always this observation na ’yung sikat nung araw, like the players during the Toyota and Crispa era, and then sila Alvin Patrimonio, Allan Caidic, Benjie Paras and others, compared daw sa mga era na ’yun, the popularity (of today’s players) kulang pa,” he said.

The league plans to address this problem by identifying 12 of its best and most glamorous players and create an aura around them that would excite fans and build a strong fan base to support them.

“We want to really lift the popularity and recognition of the players, teams, and the league. We’ll have many events (for them). We’ll make this 35th PBA season a banner year,” Barrios said.

The PBA will open the season with a game pitting Purefoods against Burger King on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

PBA board of governors chairman Lito Alvarez of Burger King, whose team is in the middle of a contentious struggle to keep prized rookie Japeth Aguilar, is also upbeat about the new season.

Though Aguilar will not be in any PBA lineup, Alvarez is confident that rookies like Purefoods’ Rico Maierhofer and Chris Timberlake, Coke’s Chris Ross, and Rain or Shine’s Jervy Cruz will electrify the crowd this season.

The off-season also saw several trades with Arwind Santos and Dennis Miranda joining San Miguel after stints with Burger King and Sta. Lucia Realty, respectively. Ginebra got Rico Villanueva and Rich Alvarez from Purefoods in exchange for Paul Artadi and Rafi Reavis.

“Napakaraming changes sa PBA for the 35th PBA season. Very exciting rookies, a lot of trades happened. Talk ’N Text will have a difficult time defending their title,” Alvarez said.

The PBA board also approved eight new rules for the season.

The most significant is the approval of the so-called “monkey ride” that allows a player to hang on to the rim after a dunk and extending the three-point line from 20.6 feet to 22 feet.