NBA’s plan for quick return might not work out
No matter your politics — and sadly, in this new netherworld of ours, politics has proven to matter more than in normal times — you have to know the NBA is willing to take on just as much risk as the political leaders of a good chunk of the USA.
From Georgia on Monday to eight more states this week to another eight states by May 1 or just beyond, varying degrees of “reopening” businesses and services will be taking place on the American landscape. Almost all of these early return states are in the deep south or out west, generally in areas where the coronavirus hasn’t hit as severely as it did in other areas.
While polls might be showing that the bulk of the general public feels businesses reopening at the end of this week would be too early, there has been strong sentiment of support from small business owners on the verge of economic collapse.
Which brings us to the NBA, which for the fiscal year of 2018-19 rolled up a record $8.75 billion in revenues.
You can fairly say the decision by commissioner Adam Silver to shut down the league on March 11 was a difficult one, though the fact that two Utah Jazz players had just tested positive for COVID-19 — at a time when almost everyone else was finding it difficult to be tested at all, of course — was a pretty impactful reason to do so.
The NBA led the way with its shutdown order, followed in close fashion the next day or several by the NHL, MLS, Major League Baseball and several other institutions of sport.
All except Roger Goodell’s NFL, of course, which apparently figures it has time to stay above the virus fray. Now that the draft is over and minicamps would soon be scheduled, however, maybe it’s almost time for even Goodell and Co. to accept this harsh reality.
Almost.
Alas, here we are nearly seven weeks into doing nothing and suddenly the NBA is making noises about being the leader in an ill-advised march backward to the good ol’ days ... of early March.
Reports late last week had the NBA planning a return of some of its players and eventually some of its teams to their places of business, the various practice facilities around the NBA nation. Not a lot of them, just a guy or three here and there in their practice facilities this week to work out. All strictly voluntary, of course.
The thought was that if fitness centers or tattoo parlors — both a necessary commodity for the average professional athlete — are open in Atlanta, then the Hawks can practice in their own digs down the street, right?
But as Georgia and its freewheeling governor Brian Kemp pushed forward to be the leaders of the unlock America movement Monday, Silver was issuing a Hi-Whoa! call around the league. He thought it necessary to delay the opening of the facilities for at least another week to no earlier than May 8. But in the cities where it’ll be OK for the average basketball pro to bowl or have his bald head waxed on May 8, they can drop by their arena under the following guidelines:
• No more than four players in the facility at a time.
• No head or assistant coaches present.
• No group activities of any kind.
Oh, and then there’s the reason for this sort-of reopening in the first place: The NBA is still prohibiting its players from going to any outside gym, fitness center or anything of the sort. And they have to work out somewhere, so ...
Not so with other affected pro sports.
The NHL, which shut down March 12 with anywhere from 11 to 15 regular season games remaining for its teams, continues to busy itself with Zoom sessions and conference calls and the like of various players and team execs.
Other than that, league commissioner Gary Bettman has occasionally lent his voice to the non-proceedings, showing up in an interview for a Canadian broadcast network last week to hint that any NHL return will be a real one.
Only not in front of fans. And probably only in four neutral arenas, real NHL buildings a must but only one per division.
Ah, but they want to play all the games out, even before the playoffs, which only makes sense if you want to at least partially fulfill any TV contract mandates.
No word as yet on the obvious need for training camps of at least two weeks if the NHL insists on returning this year for whatever reason. But right now most players are at home doing pushups in their basement, so why worry about that?
And if the season resumes sometime in late June, so be it. Bettman and his league honchos continue only to look forward.
“Clearly we can play next season, which we intend to do in its entirety, starting later,” Bettman said during that interview last week. “With a lot of timing options, we have a great deal of flexibility. And we’re not going to rush anything. We’re not going to do anything that’s crazy. We’re going to try and do something under the circumstances at the time that is sensible.”
Good luck with that. As for baseball, perhaps the approach would be that a shortened season would be better than no season, so waiting for a near-summer start isn’t such a bad thing.
Oh, and the NFL? I’m not sure they’re aware there’s a pandemic, anyway.
When do the OTAs start, anyway?