NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league is probably going to defer its recently arranged Dec. 1 beginning for the 2020-21 season in the desire for getting paying fans back into arenas.
In spite of the fact that the NBA bubble environment in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, has been a triumph, Silver said the class isn’t concentrating on restoring another quarantined campus for next season.
“I’d say Dec. 1, now that we’re working through this season, is feeling a little bit early to me,” Silver told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols before the NBA draft lottery on Thursday night.
“I think our No. 1 goal is to get fans back in our arenas. … So my sense is, in working with the players’ association, if we could push back even a little longer and increase the likelihood of having fans in arenas, that’s what we would be targeting.”
Prior Thursday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski announced that the players’ union had been getting ready individuals for the opening of free organization to be deferred from its scheduled beginning on Oct. 18. The NBA draft stays scheduled for Oct. 16.
The NBA is working with research institutions and pharmaceutical organizations on preliminaries and monitoring developments in the battle against COVID-19. Silver has said generally 40% of the league’s once-projected $8 billion in revenue is attached to having fans in fields.
Notwithstanding the desire for vaccines, the league and a few of its proprietors have been working with organizations on fast-response tests that could economically and securely make crowds more possible in the months ahead.
“We’re watching closely the development of antivirals,” Silver said. “There’s been some really positive reports about vaccines lately.”
