Play on? Weighing the pros and cons of the NBA and NHL attempting to return to action
On Saturday, the NBA made a huge announcement that could help shape a delayed but busy summer for sports. The league announced that they are in talks with Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL to have the Wide World of Sports complex be the new home of the NBA for the 2020 season.
Yes, you heard that correctly.
The NBA will attempt to complete the 2019-20 season under the “Disney Dome” by holding remaining regular season and postseason games at the complex. They are not the only league considering a restart to the season. The NHL has also joined the discussion, while they will not be holding anything at the Florida-based complex. They will have selected “hub cities” to host events along with an NHLPA-approved, 24-team Stanley Cup Playoff.
It all sounds like a great idea, right? We get sports back and the likelihood of both the NBA Playoffs and Stanley Cup Playoffs happening is great for the summer. Well, it is a bit more complex than that. In order for the NBA and NHL to be two successful test balloons for MLS, MLB and the NFL to come back and follow the same path, everything has to go right. Even before that, you’ve got to take the positives and negatives into account. Now no matter what league decided to step on the playing surface first, all eyes are on them.
Here’s a look at the positives and negatives both the NHL and NBA face as they inch closer to a return.
Pros
Sports returns
We all want that, right? The last sporting event in America was the semifinals of the SWAC Women’s Basketball Tournament, which was in mid-March. Now, we are entering the month of June without sports in North America happening. We have been subjected to classic games on networks and social media and ESPN embracing “ESPN 8 The Ocho” more than ever. While President Trump has issues with watching baseball games from 14 years ago, I for one have not had that issue.
However, sports fans want and need live sports as do I. So I totally understand what live sports could do to the morale of Americans. I mean, once ESPN announced their intentions to broadcast Korean Baseball League games I sure did become a Doosan Bears fan. Now imagine the excitement we’ll get once the NBA and NHL lead the charge to return safely.
Playoff format changes will guarantee excitement
I am a huge fan of playoff reform in all sports in various leagues here in America and these delayed postseasons will provide as such. The NBA has tinkered with the possibility of going to a 16-team playoff that would seed teams 1-16 and not go with the traditional east and west formats.
In the NHL, they’re gonna expand to 24 teams and narrow it down to 16 after some single elimination games in the postseason. From there, each round will go in the best four-out of-seven format per usual. The NHL and NBA playoff formats undergoing these changes could lead to changes in the future. These are going to be nice tests to see if they’ll work.
July=Sports Bonanza
If you know the sports calendar well enough, you know that late to mid-May into June the NBA and NHL playoffs dominate the calendar. Well, now all of the sudden let’s just push that into July. Imagine an Independence Day that gives us the Lakers at noon and a Stanley Cup playoff game while fireworks go off later that night.
It is expected that each of the networks will carry a bulk of the NBA games from Orlando, I’d expect the NHL’s broadcast partners to do the same. You want to steal back a slice of those ratings that you missed in April, May and most likely June? Make Saturday, July 4th a massive sports day and weekend.
Cons
Both leagues will walk a tightrope throughout the entire process
By the end of the week, we may be taking large steps towards a return for both the NBA and NHL. However, we’re more than likely going to get two to three weeks of workouts to get players back or near game shape. During that time, we will have testing for all players along with coaches and staff.
In order for this to come off smoothly, you will need to make sure each test comes back clean and everybody follows all the proper preventative measures.
Someone will test positive, and how do the leagues react?
As of May 25, there are 1,676,874 cases of coronavirus in the United States and cases pop up each day in the five figures. It’s not a matter of “if” someone will test positive, it is only a matter of when. If the NBA or NHL do indeed come upon a positive test, how do they react?
Canceling the season would be the first option, delaying play and putting every possible link under quarantine is another. However, the nuclear option and the one I fear happening could be this...they keep playing. In order to have some type of a completion to the season, the leagues are willing to put their heads down and trudge forward with a “covid cloud” over its head. The aftermath could turn out to be very ugly.
Florida remains a petri dish...yet they’re opening the door for the NBA?
The state of Florida, along with Washington and New York have been among the more active zones for coronavirus. There’s over 50,000 cases in the state and while the total of recovered cases is not known, we do know that there have been over 2,000 deaths.
Since March 21, cases have been on the rise and have not seen a flattening of any curve. Yet, Gov. Ron DeSantis insists on opening the state back up to lead some type of national resurgence back to normalcy. In Central Florida, there have been 6,206 cases of coronavirus but now you’re gonna bring in over 1,000 people into the Central Florida area for the next two months potentially. It is confusing and worrying while Florida’s numbers continue to rise, DeSantis and the NBA have a potential disaster looming at the sign of the first positive case.
Maybe the NBA needs to stay on the sidelines for a little while.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 6:30 AM.
