Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious diseases expert, told Snapchat’s Peter Hamby this week that the only way to realistically restart sports leagues in 2020 will be by initially playing games without fans (video link; story via ESPN.com).
“There’s a way of doing that,” Fauci said, in reference to restarting sports. “Nobody comes to the stadium. Put (the players) in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. … Have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out.”
In essence, Fauci is suggesting the “bubble” model that the NBA and other sports leagues have been exploring. It would involve teams and players congregating in a single city and playing games in a handful of locations with only essential personnel in attendance. They’d also have to stay at designated hotels.
Although Fauci’s comments were in reference to the MLB and NFL specifically, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t apply to the NBA as well — especially since the NBA wouldn’t need to house as many teams in its “bubble” once its postseason begins. While several roadblocks would still need to be overcome to make such a scenario a reality, it’s encouraging that Fauci considers it viable.
Here’s more on the ongoing coronavirus situation as it relates to the NBA:
- Although NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said that the NBA won’t be making any decisions on its season in April, that doesn’t mean that we should expect any concrete updates on May 1, writes Marc Stein of The New York Times.
- Amidst reports that players and trainers are hoping for a preparation period of approximately four weeks before play resumes, Rockets GM Daryl Morey suggested on Monday that players likely won’t get that much time to get back into game shape, per Ben DuBose of RocketsWire. As Morey notes, if every team has to deal with the same abridged preparation period, no clubs should have a competitive advantage as a result.
- Thunder guard and NBPA president Chris Paul spoke to Mark Medina of USA Today about the ongoing talks between the league and the players’ union, referring to the situation as “a wait-and-see game.” Paul, who said the NBPA is attempting to keep players as informed as possible, also noted that some sort of ramping-up period will be necessary before games can resume. “I guarantee guys won’t step on that court without feeling like they’ve had the right amount of time to get prepared,” he said
- Even when fans are eventually allowed to attend basketball games again, there’s no guarantee that the NBA won’t re-evaluate the existence of its courtside seats, says Adam Aziz of The Undefeated.
As someone who works for an NBA team, as well as a MiLB team, we need to get back to sports. Not just for the sake of playing games, but for the sake of all the people sports employ.
As much as I’d like to agree with you — that’s probably not going to really happen any time soon. Even if the sports leagues start back up… the employees who work at the stadiums, etc. probably aren’t going to be back to work for a significantly longer period of time. Because the league’s will be playing in a “bubble” so only in one city/area and without fans. So obviously there won’t be any concession stands workers, security etc etc. — I do however think that sports leagues should do everything they can to get back to playing as soon as it’s safe to do so for the overall public’s morale. Being able to watch live sports again and have something to talk about — I really think would be a HUGE boost to the public’s morale and well-being. Don’t get me wrong I totally understand there are more important things in the world than sports. BUT I also really believe that sports have an incredible power to bring people together and provide a much needed distraction from all of the terrible things that go on in the world as well. Having live sports to watch and discuss would help give the country a feeling of “normalcy” in this period of things being anything but normal.
Chris Paul… What a joke. Guys will play when they are told to play as per the contract paying them millions to do so. Clowns.
Dude your derangement for any player who never played for the Warriors is borderline insane. CP3 said absolutely nothing wrong. Tf you talking about.
Unless you are a fan of a top 5 NBA team this season its a complete waste of time to resume. Whoever wins it will not be much of a celebration. Maybe they should do the playoffs like NCAA win the game or go home. If it is a full playoff series the teams that go far in the playoffs will have no lay off because it would go into September.
Next years league schedule will be changed – we won’t start hoops til Xmas – which is a better schedule anyway
Yeah, I don’t know it it’s in a players’ contract to be forced to live in a hotel for a couple of months and not be allowed basic freedoms.
I agree. Unless there’s some obscure clause in the CBA, I don’t see how they would be able to force players into isolation. If they tried, all it would take is one lawsuit to keep the season from starting back up.
They won’t be in the Red Roof Inn and Motel 6…. they’ll be fine with being “isolated” at the Four Seasons as long as they’re getting their money. They’ll just have to do here pretty much the same thing we’ve had to do playing overseas. Doing it in the US will be easy. Almost like college – except getting paid more than they did in college. Well, most of them.
People seems to forget that the players are the ones more interested in finishing the season, who cares what fans think or want, is all about the players wanting to finish & the teams they need to finish it, so it will be finished at whatever time it takes, make no mistake about it.
Imagine coming home from work and unable to see your family for months at a time. Unable to see friends unable to go out. Kind of like prison with benefits.
Really???
seriously Chris Paul’s biggest issue is digging in about players not going to play if they “don’t have enough time to get ready” like c’mon. I understand needing some time to get ready but every teams going to be in the same boat one way or another — players really need to realize that if there’s any hope at all of having pro sports this year… they’re going to need to be flexible and not obsess over the small details. Harping on the amount of preparation time needed before being in “game shape” really seems like a pretty lame stance to take.