NBA Doesn't Want To Start Next Season Until Fans Can Attend Games

The NBA is looking to leave the bubble behind for good when the playoffs are over, aiming to start next season when teams are allowed to have fans in attendance for games.

When the league finalized its plan to finish the 2019-2020 season at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, it named Dec. 1 as its target for the start of the 2020-2021 season. With the playoffs underway and the coronavirus pandemic still raging, that tentative date might be a little ambitious.

“I’d say Dec. 1, now that we’re working through this season, is feeling a little bit early to me,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols Thursday night.

“I think our No. 1 goal is to get fans back in our arenas. ... So my sense is, in working with the players’ association, if we could push back even a little longer and increase the likelihood of having fans in arenas, that’s what we would be targeting.”

Silver has said that approximately 40% of the NBA’s revenue comes from having fans in arenas. That means playing a full regular-season schedule and playoffs without crowds could take the league’s annual revenue from $8 billion to just under $5 billion.

When the NBA will be able to play games with crowds is anybody’s guess.

There was an average of about 21,800 diagnosed coronavirus cases per day in the United States in early June, according to The New York Times, when the NBA pegged Dec. 1 as a tentative start date. The seven-day average is up to 46,020 cases a day, though testing has increased and the average has dropped from nearly 67,000 cases each day in late July.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, set for Jan. 18, 2021, could be a consideration to start the season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier this month. February and March are also possibilities if a coronavirus vaccine and other factors allow public gatherings.

The 2020 NBA Finals are scheduled to end no later than Oct. 13. There were four months and nine days in between the conclusion of last year’s finals and the start of this season. That timeline would put opening night of next season on Feb. 22, 2021.

Maybe the NBA will start next season with limited capacity seating. Some NFL teams are making such plans, including the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who expect to kick off the football season at 22% capacity, or roughly 16,000 fans, on Sept. 10.

It’s easier for the NFL to host some fans, considering football games are played in large, outdoor arenas.

The NBA bubble has been an unquestioned success. No player has tested positive for the coronavirus in over a month, and the playoffs appear to be on their way to being completed without interruption. The league just has to take one look at MLB, which has already suspended dozens of games a month into the season because of coronavirus outbreaks within various teams.

But the NBA, and its biggest stars, might believe it’s well worth it to extend the offseason by a few months if it means getting fans back in the building.