- NBA potentially will allow fans into stands next season
Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, will potentially let fans into the stands next season. ¨I think we all know nothing has changed in this virus, as far as I know. I think the majority of states right now cases are ticking back up again.¨
With the Orlando bubble working well, (zero cases ¨among the players¨) the NBA will try to make it so that the Stands will be filled with fans instead of screens. But, the thing is, when are they going to start next season? When WILL the fans be back? What happens with the salary cap? When does free agency begin? When will training camps start? These questions have been among us all lately. We as the fans and coaches/ players are hoping for an answer next year.
Silver addressed many of those questions and had not many solid and/or confident answers.
And with the NFL and MLB starting up, playing in their home stadiums, and having little-to-no fans in the stands, the NBA is hoping to follow. But, there is indeed some discussion of another bubble. “I mean, I’m hoping, ideally we would not return to a bubble environment, but it’s something we’re gonna have to continue looking at,” Silver said, But I guess we have to go with whatever the world decides throws at us.
That means there is a lot to work out from figuring out a schedule to figuring out how to move forward with a revised collective bargaining agreement. If the league goes off of revenue to determine the salary cap, as normal, the cap and the luxury tax will plummet. That would leave teams without an avenue to improve, put some clubs in financial stress, and leave players who are entering free agency completely out of luck. That would put them hoping for a team in the next, NEXT season. But silver made it clear that he would not allow that.
¨Not only that the league would be crazy, a third of the NBA will be free agents next season which would mean enormous equity because there would be no room for players, because of the salary cap.¨ This would be devastating because the fans would not be there, teams would be in half and a ton of lost fans.
But there still is hope! The NFL and some MLS teams will let a limited number of fans in, so Silver didn’t rule out fans returning to NBA arenas when the new season begins, whenever that will be. Silver stated that there is almost zero chance of there being any sort of vaccine next year, so I do not see that we will be able to let fans back into games.
“I sense that with rapid testing, it may not be that we’ll have 19,000 people in the building, we’ll see. But that with appropriate protocols in terms of distancing, and with advanced testing that you will be able to bring fans back into arenas.” Said Silver.
So you may be able to see your favorite player in person next year, but as this year has gone, you never know.
Information off of:
https://www.ksl.com/article/50023519/nba-hopes-to-have-fans-back-in-the-stands-next-season-but-nothing-is-certainNBA
