NBA commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols ahead of tonight’s draft lottery that he now expects the league’s previously-estimated December 1 start date for the 2020/21 regular season to be pushed back, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
In explaining his thinking, Silver indicated that he would prefer to have fans be able to attend games in person next season.
“I think our No. 1 goal is to get fans back in our arenas,” he told Nichols. “So my sense is, in working with the [National Basketball] 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.”
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has prevented gatherings of large crowds, with fan attendance for major concerts, indoor movie theaters, and sporting events having been widely postponed until 2021. The United States saw 43,798 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday.
Until an effective vaccine is widely available to the public, it may be difficult to allow fans inside basketball arenas, though Silver remains hopeful that the anticipated development fast-response coronavirus tests may soon make in-arena attendance more feasible.
Crowd attendance makes up a significant portion of the league’s seasonal revenue. Per the Windhorst piece, Silver accredits approximately 40% of NBA revenue to fans filling arenas.
This should tell you everything. For all sports. No NFL.
ENJOY THE PLAYOFFS.
12/25 start date
Yep. Been saying this all along. That’s the day that the NBA dominates the sports calendar and it makes perfect sense to have it be the opening day for the new season.
It does, there was never a chance they would start it sooner.
Probably still too early.
Let’s get thru this yr first. Things should get better with new leadership. No big deal pushing things back. Till we get this under control.
Until covid prevalence is less 0.0005% over a two week period which means that the virus is not running wild in a community setting dates for this, that, or the other thing is a pipedream. I don’t see that coming anytime in 2020. Possibly by early spring 2021 depending on who is in charge of the country. Stupid is as stupid does.
That should be 0.05% not 0.0005%.
I don’t think we would have seen playoffs this season if the Lakers and LeBron weren’t in it. If this was last season, sorry raptors no one cares