The NBA had a head start at the start of the pandemic by deciding very quickly to suspend the rest of its 2019-2020 season during the month of March as soon as the first positive case was discovered, favoring the health of players, staffs. and the public faced with a virus that is still little known and despite the prospect of considerable financial losses.
An initiative which served as an example and had a domino effect on the rest of the sports leagues of the world (in France in particular) which in turn suspended their activities until further notice. A year and three months later, the observation remains the same: the NBA sets the pace, and it has taken a crazy lead in terms of reopening rooms and welcoming fans. Almost as if nothing had happened, the playoffs began in a euphoric atmosphere with the return of the public, sometimes sold out!
The NBA scrutinized by the whole world
Present at Game 3 of the semi-final of the Eastern Conference between the Sixers and the Hawks, the “commissioner” Adam Silver was pleased to have been able to witness a start of return to normal, so far without disturbances at the level. health, insisting on the role of “model” that the NBA should occupy on the international scene.
“It’s a fantastic experience, both to see our venues come back to a capacity close to full capacity, but also maybe in a symbolic way, what this means for the country”, did he declare. “A lot of people in other industries have told me that when we closed in March 2020, it sent a signal to the rest of the country about the severity of this coronavirus. Likewise, when people from other sectors saw people come back to our rooms, they realized that it was time to resume normal activities. So I think it gave a huge support to our league, but it transcended the sport ”.
“I hope we will get back to something very close to normal next season”
The goal now is to get as close as possible to a return to normal, as much as possible. Adam Silver is hoping the NBA could achieve this in the 2021-2022 season, which has returned to its usual schedule with a season start in October and the Finals in June.
“I hope we will get back to something very close to normal next season”, he added. “We let our teams know yesterday that we plan to start next season on October 19, which is exactly the scheduled date in our normal format. And like I said, I’m definitely not going to try to predict the precise trajectory of this virus and its variants, but at least based on the information I have so far, we predict that our matches and protocols are very close to normal ”.
While he was pleased to see the momentum of solidarity in the USA born of the fight against the pandemic, Adam Silver also slipped that additional measures could be applied to fans who have chosen not to be vaccinated, refuting for the time being the establishment of a health pass.
