Austin, Texas — The NBA and NBA board of governors have been at odds about when to begin the 2020-2021 season because of many reasons. The nation is still in the thick of a public health crisis, players who spent time in the bubble in Orlando recently began to get re-acclimated to daily life at home again, and the season just ended October 11th.
After a date is agreed upon, how soon after that will players be able to report to training camp?
Throughout these past months, we have witnessed how important it is for professional athletes to utilize off-season programs like training camp. Those programs are important to the health and performance of professional athletes, so the accessibility to those programs is a major benefit. Typically professional basketball players remain in shape year-round, but there is a difference between being in “shape” and “game shape”.
The reported start date the NBA is discussing is December 22nd which would be a 60 day and some change turnaround, which should be concerning in some aspect, and players have expressed that a mid-January start would be the ideal option.
Another topic of discussion, since NBA venues, rely heavily on game-day revenue how will they manage to accommodate fans?
Having no fans is completely out of the question at this point. Even though they were able to complete the bubble season in Orlando, NBA franchises experienced major hits to their pocketbooks. Starting the season on December 22nd instead of mid-January reportedly will generate $500 million in revenue. It’s not a question of if they will have fans. The question is, how many fans will they allow in their arenas, and what protocols will the NBA adopt in less than 2 months to make the gameday experience as safe as possible.
Player safety and comfortability is also another important factor. I’m sure Covid-19 testing accuracy and effectiveness is an easier problem to solve, but player isolation has proven to be difficult as outbreaks at times interrupted the flow of Major League Baseball and the NFL. The NFL included various schedule adjustments prior to beginning the season which saved them from having to suspend operations so far, and Major League Baseball did the same.
Will the NBA be able to accomplish the same? Who knows, but what we do know is that positive tests are something to be expected, and it’s all about how you manage it.
It is very possible the NBA will play a shortened season.
The reported number of games the NBA is discussing the 2020-2021 season will be 72 games. The last time the NBA played less than its traditional 82 game schedule was during the 2011-2012 season when the players decided to strike due to not agreeing to a new collective bargaining agreement, only scheduling 66 games per team as a result. That season began December 25, 2011. This is similar to the date that is currently on the table in discussion between the NBA and the board of governors.
Reducing the schedule to 72 games will still allow the NBA to finish the upcoming season, and crown an NBA champion by mid to late June which is the traditional conclusion to their season, and will still afford the NBA an ample amount of time to finish their offseason evaluation like the NBA Combine which began in late September and the draft which is scheduled for November 18th at the Barclays Center.
It appears the NBA is prepared and ready to go full steam ahead with its plans for the 2020-2021 season, and could soon announce their decision to do so in the upcoming days.
