Amid the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States, the Houston Rockets were reportedly among several NBA teams that were reluctant to eliminate fans from games without first receiving a formal governmental mandate to do so.
Instead, their preference was to pause play entirely for several weeks and extend the 2019-20 season into the summer. According to a report Thursday by ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Rockets were joined in that assessment by the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks.
As it turns out, the Rockets will get their wish, since the NBA suspended its season after Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. But earlier Wednesday, prior to that news, momentum was said to be on the side of the season continuing as scheduled — but in empty arenas.
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A conference call was held Wednesday afternoon involving NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the owners of all 30 teams (or an owner’s representative) to run through the various options.
The Rockets did favor a 3-4 weeks pause that would allow the NBA to play into the summer, sources said. They were less enthusiastic about the idea of playing games in the short-term without fans. https://t.co/RY3SKtfTM3
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 12, 2020
Last Friday, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta expressed skepticism when asked about the potential of playing games without fans.
“I don’t think you ever want to play games in front of no audiences,” Fertitta said. “If it ever got so bad, and this is just my opinion, I would hope that we would just suspend for a week, or two weeks, or whatever. You don’t want to play games with no fans. That’s never going to work.”
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When CEO Tad Brown was asked Tuesday about the possibility, he said:
Everything is on the table; everything has been discussed. We’re looking forward to continuing to play our games. We think that that’s the best course of action in an environment of being really prudent and responsible in how we do that.
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The season’s suspension will last for at least two weeks, according to The Associated Press, with numerous teams and players undergoing testing and quarantine measures. Early Thursday, Dallas owner Mark Cuban suggested that the delayed season could go into July or August.
Mark Cuban does not think the NBA season will be cancelled, just postponed, and could see games being played into August. pic.twitter.com/PtStFlypPL
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 12, 2020
The advantage of a suspension is that fans might be allowed back in arenas once the hiatus is over, which avoids what would have been a revenue hit for NBA teams due to ticket refunds. But that scenario obviously depends on how the virus progresses in the coming weeks.
According to The New York Times, data as of Thursday morning showed 1,282 cases of coronavirus in the United States, including 37 deaths.