The NBA’s comeback attempt amid the coronavirus outbreak has been in the works for weeks, but now the ball is officially rolling, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports.
The league has entered into what is being reported as “exploratory conversations” with Walt Disney Company about using Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando as a bubble site to continue the season.
Disney World had been rumored to be in consideration for the NBA weeks ago, but rumors have turned into conversations as the league has begun to piece together a timeline for bringing the season back.
Shelburne shared a statement from NBA spokesman Mike Bass describing the negotiations on Twitter.
Here’s the full quote from NBA spokesman Mike Bass on negotiations with Disney. pic.twitter.com/29YSod7f9i
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) May 23, 2020
First thing is first — the NBA needs to figure out how it can safely house these athletes and increase its testing capacity before the season ever comes back.
It also needs to figure out the format that they’ll be using — in other words, what teams will play? Will they go straight to the postseason? Will they figure out the regular season?
But if all that gets figured out and they do decide that it’s time to give the rest of the season a go, Disney’s Wide World of Sports is the perfect spot. It has the hotel infrastructure and a slew of courts available to play multiple playoff games at once if they want to bring the season back AAU style. And they’re all in close proximity to one another.
We’re still a long ways away from the season returning, but this is as good a sign as any. And late July seems to be about where the target date is, so there’s a ton of time to figure this out.
It seems, one way or another, NBA basketball will be back soon-ish.
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