And so the worst has come to pass. The National Basketball Association has decided to suspend the 2019–20 season until further notice. In a statement issued yesterday, it said it will “use the hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.” Evidently, the commissioner’s office deemed the choice, however extreme, to be most prudent after it found All-Star Rudy Gobert to have “preliminarily tested positive for COVID-19.” Prior to the turn of events, the Jazz and Thunder were supposed to face off at Chesapeake Energy Arena. In fact, they were ready for tip-off, only to be sent back to their locker rooms while fans lay in wait. After half an hour passed, an announcement was officially made on the postponement of the match “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
Before the suspension, the league thought of holding matches without fans in attendance. The Warriors were supposed to face the Nets under such conditions today. Chase Center — still brand-spanking-new and the source of revenues franchise owner Joe Lacob deemed “much more … than the Knicks or Lakers” and “understated” by Forbes — was to be devoid of unnecessary warm bodies. Save for those to be occupied by members of the family of players and staff, the 18,064 seats in the arena would have been empty. The reason: compliance with the order of the San Francisco Heath Office barring the holding of events with at least 1,000 in attendance due to concerns about the outbreak of the virus in the city.
Not coincidentally, members of the NBA Board of Governors and commissioner Adam Silver earlier had a conference call and touched on ways and means to continue with the schedule in a manner that upholds public safety. No longer. And, needless to say, the cost to the league will be considerable. Estimates on the losses run in the millions of dollars for a single contest, and, along with foregone revenues after its disagreement with China earlier in the season, in the hundreds of millions of dollars on aggregate. That said, the decision was made in complete recognition of the importance of social distancing on curbing the transmission of the virus.
How the rest of the season will play out is anybody’s guess. At this point, the hope is that the global pandemic will be contained, and soon. And only after that can the league pick up the pieces. Meanwhile, everything else goes on, and all and sundry are left to cope as best they can.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
