It has been more than a week since the NBA decided to suspend its activities indefinitely, driven by the positive by coronavirus from Rudy gobert. Nine days after learning of the case, 12 are already infected. But while in U.S the outbreak remains a threat, surpassing 10,000 cases and 150 deaths, league officials have their minds set on returning from competition.
Different options will be downloaded, although one in particular is very striking. In an interview with ESPN, the commissioner Adam Silver said they seriously evaluate carrying out some kind of "Charity competition" with healthy and quarantined players, so that the millions of fans of the NBA have something to see.
"One of the things that we've been talking about is, Are there conditions under which a group of players could compete, perhaps for a fundraiser or just for the collective good of people, where a subset of players is taken?… and is there a protocol in which can be tested and quarantined and isolated in some way, and can compete against each other? People are trapped at home and I think they need fun. They need to be entertained, ”Silver explained.
On the other hand, speaking of more realistic alternatives, he explained that they are investigating the possibilities that exist to restart the NBA normally with "19,000 fans in the stadiums" and the other would be to play matches closed doors and do it with athletes examined and free of COVID-19, with authorization from medical bodies and from the country's health authorities.
“Perhaps we can do this progressively, and the first step is not parties with thousands of people in the fields. 99% of people consume our sport through an electronic platform. The percentage of people who attend the matches is very small in relation to audiovisual and digital consumption. I am optimistic and I want to believe that we are going to save at least some parts of this season"Stressed the top manager of the league.
Going to deeper changes, they asked Adam Silver on the idea expressed by Steve Koonin, the CEO of the Atlanta Hawks, who has advocated because the league change your October-June calendar for December-August to which he replied that it is a possibility that can be studied.
"We are trying to do better, so that is one possibility, but we can find other possibilities."explained the commissioner, who stressed that they are now focused on doesn't put anyone at risk and support the country to overcome the pandemic of coronavirus.