The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) will introduce the four-point shot beginning in the season-opening Governors’ Cup following the approval of the Board on Sunday in the first day of its annual planning session in Osaka, Japan.

First implemented in last year’s All-Star Games in Passi, Iloilo, the four-point line will be an arc measuring 27 feet painted on the court beyond the 23-foot three-point line.

The innovation is just one of the major changes to be adopted by the league for the coming Season 49.

The Board thought having a four-point line would make the game even more exciting and quicker.

In fact, in the last All-Star Game in Bacolod City, NLEX star Robert Bolick completed a five-point play after getting fouled by Calvin Oftana in the waning seconds of the game as he unleashed his long bomb for Team Mark to end the match tied with Team Japeth at 140-all.

Meanwhile, Ricky Vargas of TNT received a fresh mandate as Board chairman via unanimous vote.

Vargas, the longest-serving Board head, will begin his seventh term when the PBA season unfurls on 18 August at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Alfrancis Chua of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel was elected vice chairman, succeeding Terrafirma's Bobby Rosales while Atty. Ogie Narvasa is the new secretary and legal counsel.

Phoenix’s Raymond Zorrilla was retained as treasurer while commissioner Willie Marcial was reconfirmed to continue his second three-year term.