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The National Basketball Association (NBA) may be back before Christmas and fans could return to the games sometime next season, if a plan considered by the league’s board of governors comes to fruition.
The board aims to begin Dec. 22 in what would be a 70-72 game season, with the NBA Finals ending again in June, as has been the case for many years, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. . The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity because no plans have been finalized, said that whether or not fans are in the games would depend on how a particular market is doing against the coronavirus in that moment.
There are other options, like waiting until later in the season to start playing in the hope that more arenas may have fans. But starting in December instead of mid-January or later could make a difference of about $ 500 million in revenue, the person said.
Revenue projections for the league this season were lost by about $ 1.5 billion, the person said. The losses were the result of a combination of factors: the shutdown caused by the pandemic, the cancellation of 171 regular season games, completing the season in a bubble at Walt Disney World with no fans, the price of nearly $ 200 million to operate that one. bubble. and a year-long dispute with the Chinese government that watched NBA games that were not shown on state television there.
No decisions have been made for next season and discussions with the National Basketball Players Association are ongoing on many issues, including financial parameters for next year. Those conversations, especially on the subject of money, should be concluded before any real decisions are made about the upcoming season.
The NBPA also hasn’t made any final decisions about how it wants the league to proceed. But this plan, which begins in December and ends in June, would bring the 2021-22 season – if the virus allowed it – to return to normal, with 82 games starting in October.
A pre-Christmas start to the next season would mean that the offseason for NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers and Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat would be almost absurdly short, as a December 22 start date would mean that the teams would likely begin training camps towards the end. of November. This season’s NBA Finals ended on October 11, so the Heat and Lakers could basically have just seven weeks off.
It would also mean that the league and its streaming partners could keep the Christmas games on the schedule. The league has made Christmas a five-game roster in recent years, largely due to the number of viewers tuning in for the holidays.
Usually, the end of the final in mid-June is followed by a break of approximately three and a half months before the next training camp. But a June finale of next season would also allow players to compete in next summer’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, which begin in July.
The United States has already qualified for those Olympics, as have seven other nations. There are 24 teams left to compete for the final four spots on the men’s basketball field for the Tokyo Games, and those qualifiers will begin in June. If the NBA season runs into July or beyond, it would seriously jeopardize plans for many of the league’s players to participate in the Olympics.
Still, any resumption of the game in December would require a serious time crisis to establish the rosters. The NBA draft is scheduled for November 18, and it’s unclear when free agency, which generally follows the draft, would take place.
“It would be nice to have all the numbers and everything in a little folder, you know, but due to the pandemic and the delay in the season, this is where we are now,” Miami Heat president Pat Riley said Friday. talking about their annual end-of-season availability with reporters. “I think the NBA and the Players Association are going to try to get it.”
There were 171 games canceled this season due to the coronavirus, prompting the league to suspend operations on March 11. The league sent 22 of its 30 teams to a bubble at Walt Disney World in July, and play resumed on July 30 and all 16. the team playoffs continue as scheduled, though all without fans.
