NBA Wants To Get Fans On Seats Before Commencing Next Season
The NBA will wait until it’s feasible to play in front of fans before commencing the 2020-2021 season, said Silver.
The commissioner was speaking to ESPN before the NBA draft lottery on Thursday night. As a result of trying to get the fans in, the previously slated Dec 1 start date will likely be delayed.
Of course, it’s impossible to say whether fan attendance will be possible, even if the league delays. Despite this, Adam Silver has no plans to create another quarantined facility, despite the success of the Orlando bubble.
As well as that, the start of free agency on October 18 will be delayed. So far, the draft, scheduled for October 16, is not affected.Â
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“I’d say Dec. 1, now that we’re working through this season, is feeling a little bit early to me,” Silver said on Thursday night.
“I think our No. 1 goal is to get fans back in our arenas. … So my sense is, in working with the players’ association, if we could push back even a little longer and increase the likelihood of having fans in arenas, that’s what we would be targeting.”
As a way to speed this process up, the league is working with researchers and pharmaceutical companies to make crowds safe.Â
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Vaccines and fast-response tests are currently in development which could make fan attendance a safe option. The league needs that to work, because 40% of it’s projection 8billion revenue is dependent on fans going to games.
“We’re watching closely the development of antivirals,” Silver said.Â
“There’s been some really positive reports about vaccines lately.”
If any league can pull this off, it’s the NBA which has led the way for other sports leagues since the start of the pandemic. The Premier League, NFL, NHL, MLB, etc still haven’t found a coherent solution to fan attendance in the Covid age.
