NBA commissioner reports huge financial losses while White House roots for return
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday it is unclear when the league can safely resume its season, but cash-strapped teams are eager to help America kickstart its economy as a nation waits in isolation for the return of sports and other signs of normalcy.
Silver addressed the league’s coronavirus lockdown Friday during a conference call following a videoconference with the NBA Board of Governors. Silver noted that Dr. David Ho, a world-renowned infectious disease specialist from Columbia University, and Disney Chairman Bob Iger participated in the videoconference.
Silver stressed safety will be paramount in any plan to resume the NBA season. He repeatedly said unknown variables make it impossible to predict a return date. Silver also conceded that teams are suffering substantial financial losses like so many other businesses across the country.
“Our revenue in essence has dropped to zero,” Silver said. “That’s having a huge financial impact on the team business and the arena business.
“When you include the day-of-game arena workers, the NBA is responsible for roughly 55,000 jobs. … While this virus is of course a dire public health issue, so of course is shutting down the economy. I think it’s why the league sees it as our obligation, to the extent we can resume play in a safe way, to look at every potential way of doing so. That’s what we’re doing now.”
The NBA suspended its season March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert became the first player to test positive for the coronavirus. Other leagues followed the NBA’s lead in subsequent days and weeks as the outbreak grew and public health officials issued stay-at-home orders across the country.
The unprecedented shutdown of the sports world has left the landscape barren with empty stadiums and arenas around the globe. Networks like ESPN have resorted to live coverage of NBA players competing in remote games of H-O-R-S-E and NBA 2K20, the wildly popular video game.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said “we have to get our sports back.” Trump held a conference call with top sports executives and commissioners Wednesday to discuss preliminary plans to resume activities.
“Many of them are going to be starting without the fans, so it will be made for television. The good old days, made for television,” Trump said Thursday during a White House press briefing. “We’ll go that way and then the fans will start coming in, maybe they’ll be separated by two seats, and then ultimately we want to have packed arenas. When the virus is gone, we’re going to have packed arenas and we’re going to be back to enjoying sports the way they’re supposed to be.”
Trump indicated social distancing guidelines will eventually be eased to the point that teams can once again play in front of capacity crowds.
“Our normal is if you have 100,000 people in an Alabama football game — or 110,000 to be exact — we want 110,000 people there,” Trump said. “We want every seat occupied. Normal is not going to be where you have 50,000 people.”
Silver was asked how he weighs that messaging against the advice of the league’s health experts. Silver said NBA owners feel a “civic obligation” to help restart the economy, but what he senses from the White House is a desire to boost American morale.
“There’s been nothing said (in) our discussions on a federal level that are inconsistent with ensuring player health and safety,” Silver said. “I appreciate, in terms of the presidential council, that sports is being recognized as an important industry to this country. I would say that recognition from these calls has been less about the economics of the sports industry, but more in terms of the impact on the national psyche of not having a lot of sports right now.”
No clear path to play
Silver said many factors must be considered as the NBA looks for a way to resume the season safely, borrowing a line from Iger to say: “It’s about the data and not the date.”
Asked what kind of data the league needs to see, Silver said: “I think we’re looking for the number of new infections to come down. We’re looking for the availability of testing on a large scale. We’re looking at the path that we’re on for potentially a vaccine. We’re looking at antivirals. On top of that, we’re playing close attention to what the CDC is telling us on a federal level and what these various state rules are that are in place.”
Silver continued: “There’s a lot of data that all has to be melded together to help make these decisions. But that’s part of the uncertainty. I think we’re not even at the point where we can say, ‘if only A, B, and C were met, then there’s a clear path.’ I think there’s still too much uncertainty at this point to say precisely how we move forward. I’ll add the underlying principle just remains health, safety, and wellbeing of NBA players and everyone involved. We begin with that as paramount and then the decision tree moves forward from there.”
Silver added: “Everything is on the table, including moving back the start of next season.”
Basketball in a bubble
Some have suggested a bubble-city concept in which teams would converge in a single location to play out the season under quarantine conditions. Las Vegas, where the NBA holds its summer league, has been mentioned as a possibility.
Silver said “we’ve only listened” to such proposals and “we’re not seriously engaged” in those discussions yet because the conditions that would allow the league to resume its schedule are still unknown.
Reduced pay for players
Silver confirmed a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the NBA and the NBA Players Association have agreed to withhold 25 percent of each player’s pay beginning May 15. The deal allows for a gradual reduction in salary in the event that the cancellation of regular-season games prompts the league to enact the force majeure provision in the collective bargaining agreement.
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 5:44 PM.
