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[jmr07019]

Coronavirus: NBA reportedly considering playing out season at single site without fans
Jack Baer | Yahoo Sports | Mar 31, 2020

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-playoffs-coronavirus-pandemic-regular-season-playoffs-single-site-041634778.html

A possible coronavirus endgame? 30 teams, one arena, no fans
Per the Post, a group of executives are keen on the idea of arranging for the season to be played out at a single location:

Though news of the coronavirus pandemic has been discouraging, NBA executives still cling to hope of arranging a one-site, fan-less, 16-team playoff and a five-to-seven-game regular-season prelude, according to multiple NBA sources.

“They’re very determined to have a champion,” one industry source said.

The playoffs could be reduced to a slew of best-of-three series across the board. A single-elimination format has been all but ruled out — only under consideration as a last resort.

“Nothing is off the table,” another league official said.

As far as where this could happen, one natural answer is UNLV in Las Vegas, which has hosted summer league games and is in a city with a massive hotel capacity. Berman also reports that there have been talks about the Bahamas, Orlando, Atlantic City, Hawaii and Louisville for the playoffs.

ESPN’s Jay Williams threw out another idea earlier Monday: cruise ships.

They key number at play here is 70 regular season games, as regional networks reportedly have contracts calling for at least 70 games for local teams. All teams are currently around the mid-60s in games played, though many of those games have been nationally televised.

The reported best-case scenario is starting up the season in late June — in line with past reports — and delaying the opening of the 2020-21 season to Christmas. The NBA draft would also be postponed in such a situation.

Please god let this happen. The NBA would make a killing. People are desperate to watch sports. There are no movies, bars, or clubs to go to. Anything decent on Netflix will have been watched by the summer. The ratings will be through the roof. Given the financial incentive I think it happens.

The format increases the C's chance at a title as well. Take away home court advantage from Milwaukee and LA.

[Slax]

Coronavirus: NBA reportedly considering playing out season at single site without fans
Jack Baer | Yahoo Sports | Mar 31, 2020

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-playoffs-coronavirus-pandemic-regular-season-playoffs-single-site-041634778.html

I hope they don't do this. It's a foolish health risk to have a production like this - it's not just going to be players, but staffs and crew and media and so on. But if they do go forward with this, the unpredictable nature of a 3-game series could produce an unexpected champion.

Shouldn't be too hard to keep everyone safe. 20 teams. Each team has say 50 people total between players and staff. You're only looking at 1,000 people. You need 1 hotel, a few of buses and a couple of courts. Everyone would have to be on strict quarantine. So what? Quarantine everyone for a month at the hotel before the post season starts.

Maybe! I just can't imagine these games being played with decent production value without huge amounts of support staff and media involved, and I don't really see how you can effectively guarantee no contact with the outside world to ensure safety of everyone involved. If one asymptomatic ball boy accidentally exposes a few players, considering even by your (I think conservative) estimate you would have a thousand people sharing space in close quarters, you could end up creating a huge breeding ground just like the Biogen conference. I don't think this is the modal outcome, but there's huge tail risk.

[KGtabake]

Season is over. No champion.
Maybe give individual player/coach honors and call it a day.

[Parliament10]

Season is over. No champion.
Maybe give individual player/coach honors and call it a day.

IDK about that. They're pretty Adamant that they'll get to at least 70 Games.
Which they have to do for the TV contracts, or give back the money. And that, is even more unlikely.

[Parliament10]

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[The_Ghost_of_JB]

I think at this point I would rather have the season not continue verses having some half assed empty arena playoff series.

On top of that it is too much of a risk. What are they going to do? Test all these guys (the NBA is already under a bit of scrutiny because of how easy it is for NBA players to get tested, and yes I realize that money is king here) to make sure they are okay? From what I read people can test negative coming out of the hospital and still be carriers.

Yes they can try and quarantine the refs, players and everyone else involved but all it takes is one or two people to have it and it will start to spread. Imagine the NBA trying to spin that? Call it a loss and try to start up again next season. I know it is about money but basketball,and sports in general, really isn't important right now.

Plus this "championship" will be one of the most meaningless in sports history and I don't see many people looking back at it taking it very seriously.

[Slax]

Season is over. No champion.
Maybe give individual player/coach honors and call it a day.

IDK about that. They're pretty Adamant that they'll get to at least 70 Games.
Which they have to do for the TV contracts, or give back the money. And that, is even more unlikely.

I hope they don't do this event, but as someone who worked for years as office staff for MLB, I do want to be as fair as possible about their motivations if they do. I know this is framed a lot as being a bunch of greedy billionaire owners vs The People (including players and staff), and that's maybe not entirely wrong, but a lot of people other than owners depend on league revenues for their livelihood. I originally started working for MLB because even though it paid less money than other offers I had on the table, it was really stable work with a pension, and while I could imagine a situation where a hundred-year-old sports league could become less profitable, it was inconceivable to me that it would just... stop, for an extended period of time. I'm not sure what would have happened to my job and wages if a season had ended 3/4 way through and there were no playoffs.

This is not at all unique to sports leagues. Lots of Americans are facing the same dilemma right now: they're being told not to leave their homes, which means they can't work, which means they are having trouble making ends meet. Other industries like restaurants and bars and shops are closing down for the public good. Workers are being laid off and furloughed. It's really sad, but it's necessary for our safety. I don't think sports leagues are any different.

But I also recognize that I'm currently speaking from a position of enormous privilege, as someone who no longer works for a sports league, and is able to work from home and collect a paycheck without worrying that my employer is about to have a financial crunch. I am fortunate I don't have to face the harsh tradeoffs of safety vs guaranteed paycheck that so many other people are facing, often by someone else's decision. I really feel for all the players, staff, etc who might end up suffering over an unpredictable event entirely outside their control.

[Parliament10]

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[celtxman]

Until a vaccine is produced, society is just going to have to accept on some level that people are just going to continue to get this virus. Otherwise there is no way sports leagues can resume unless you have some system where everyone is constantly isolated and then tested constantly. Are players OK with playing against people with coronavirus? Just because you tested negative yesterday doesn't mean you're still negative when we tip off tonight. Are we even sure at this point that having the virus once gives a person 100 pct immunity in the future?

I have had exactly this general position since the day the NBA shut down. The only difference is that you dont necessarily need the vaccine yet, what you need is something that is readily available that takes Coronavirus from being fatal to something that with medication that is on everybody's shelves can geometrically drop the death rate. People die from the flu but nobody changes their lives over it. It's too much hassle for many people to bother to get a shot. That's been the difference that has changed everything.
Unfortunately either a vaccine or something before this that mitigates death that EVERYBODY has access to is a long way away. In Wiretap Brian Windhorst reports that the season may be scrapped.

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[zoyathedestroya]

LMAO at the HORSE idea. Just don't.

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[djFan71]

LMAO at the HORSE idea. Just don't.

Maybe only corona survivors can participate in a heated competition for 2nd place behind Marcus.

[zoyathedestroya]

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The NFL is going to run-through a Practice Virtual Draft first, to make sure all systems are go.

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[Parliament10]

Why NBA games won't start immediately if the season is cleared to resume
Baxter Holmes | ESPN Senior Writer | April 11, 2020

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29022285/why-nba-games-start-immediately-season-cleared-resume

"If you tell us two weeks in advance, and all we have is a two-week training camp to [get] guys back to work that have been out of work eight weeks, that's a mess," one NBA general manager said.

Teams are encouraging players to work out at their respective homes -- including providing daily exercise programs, Zoom workout sessions and equipment. But a long layoff will mean that virtually every player will not be in game shape, with some being much further from that benchmark than others.

"You'll have [players] from one extreme to the other," said one athletic training staff official involved with numerous NBA players. "So you've sort of just got to go with the mindset, 'No one's been training how they should be [and] everyone's very out of shape.'"

In anticipation of this issue, many team officials said there needs to be at least a month-long period to help players physically acclimate and prepare after the layoff to avoid a potential spate of injuries that could follow, according to interviews with athletic training staffers and general managers across the league.

[zoyathedestroya]

This was my proposal from a while back. I am Dr. Fauci.

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[Parliament10]

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