The NBA has pushed back next season until January with the hope of having fans in the stands but the expectation of crowds may be optimistic, Mark Medina of USA Today reports. It’s unlikely a COVID-19 vaccine will be widely available at that point and having large crowds in an indoor facility could lead to a super spreader event, according to multiple health experts who spoke to Medina. Rapid testing could make it more feasible to allow fans into indoor arenas, the story adds.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Western Carolina’s Carlos Dotson has agreed to a deal in France with JSA Bordeaux, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. The 24-year-old big man averaged 15.5 PPG and 9.7 RPG last season while receiving SoCon First Team All-Conference honors.
- The Players Association has made committee appointments for the NBA Foundation, created in partnership with the league, as well as the new Social Justice Coalition formed when the players agreed to continue the season in late August, Shams Charania of The Athletic writes. Kings forward Harrison Barnes and 76ers forward Tobias Harris will serve as player reps on the NBA Foundation, while Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony and Bucks guard Sterling Brown will serve on the Social Justice Coalition.
- NBPA executive director Michele Roberts anticipates that free agency will begin no later than December 1st. Get the details here.
Delaying the season for fans is way too greedy. Start the season with no fans.
It’s not necessarily about greed, teams have to pay millions to their players, they need revenue. The bubble was quite expensive and just helped the league lose less money, but it wasn’t profitable. The NBA needs the fans back in the stands as soon as possible for it to be economically sustainable.
You lost me at “economically sustainable.”
Profitable? Sure. But, in fairness, a lot of teams aren’t terribly profitable investments. Ballmer could have taken his $2 billion and put it into an index fund and made way, way, WAY more than he did buying the Clippers.
Which is to say, profits don’t matter nearly as much to most owners as they like to claim.
And THAT is why “economically sustainable” is a bridge too far. Nearly every owner is massively wealthy. They could run their teams at a loss year after year without breaking a financial “sweat.”
To say nothing of team appreciation, and the tremendous profits many owners have earned from it (see Sterling, Donald).
Of course, but the fact that are able to lose so much money doesn’t mean they should. It is a business and they don’t owe it to the basketball world to lose money. As much as I want the season to start as soon as possible, we have to understand that neither the players nor the owners want or should have to lose money. Most of us wouldn’t either.
Sterling Brown social justice except for the handicapped. They can hoof it.
Unfortunately, most people aren’t looking for real justice or equality. There are exceptions, hopefully more than my cynical mind can believe, but it seems to me that both sides of the aisle are just looking for equality for people that look and/or think exactly like themselves. The one thing that almost everyone has in common is the belief that someone that disagrees with you is completely wrong.
I used to go to a few Jazz games, no more going, no more on TV. I was very glad to see their ratings tank at a huge rate.
The stream of opinions is never ending when the topic is ‘other people’s money’.
If NBA wants to delay the season to maximize revenues that’s certainly their right.