Silver eyes even later start to 2020-21 NBA season - SportBusiness

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NBA commissioner Adam Silver is now shifting off of previously disclosed intentions to start the league’s 2020-21 season on December 1. 

Speaking on ESPN on August 20 prior to the network’s coverage of the NBA Draft Lottery, ultimately won by the now-for-sale Minnesota Timberwolves, Silver said the readjustment and compression of the league’s overall calendar created by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will likely force an even later start to next season.

“I’d say December 1, now that we’re working through this season, is feeling a little bit early to me,” Silver said. “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.”

A normal NBA season typically begins in late October. It is not surprising that Silver would prioritize regaining in-venue attendance, if possible, as Silver has previously indicated that about 40 per cent of the NBA’s normal annual revenue of more than $8bn is tied to gate receipts.

But without attending fans at the league’s ongoing restart at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida, the NBA for now has aggressively sought to reshape the in-game fan experience, including the deployment of virtual fans courtside.

Silver also praised the level of competition happening in the Florida-based quarantined environment, which for multiple weeks has avoided any positive tests.

“What has surprised me the most is the level of competition,” Silver said. “Being in one place, practicing, competing, sleeping, all being together, it’s just made a big difference in just how lively [players’] legs are. The break, too, also probably helped recovery in some ways. But overall, I’ve been really pleased with the level of competition.”

The NBA Finals in the current, adjusted season are scheduled to begin September 30 and extend as far as October 13.

The upcoming NBA Draft remains set for October 16. But the NBA and National Basketball Players Association are discussing a potential delay of the start of free agency, that as of now, is targeted for just two days later on October 18, and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts, similar to Silver, has also been vocal about her belief that some of the the league’s timetables will be pushed back further. 

Among other factors, the delays to the start of free agency and beginning of the 2020-21 campaign would allow the league and union more time to develop next season’s salary cap and luxury-tax thresholds, which each will be impacted by the substantial drop in revenue this year due to the pandemic, as well as better understand the impacts of those forthcoming changes.

In addition to the pandemic, the NBA this season saw a sizable hit to revenue due to its controversy in China last fall related to comments by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. 

As a result, the league and union may ultimately use a different formula to determine the 2020-21 salary cap instead of usual process based on a rough split of basketball-related income.

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Silver eyes even later start to 2020-21 NBA season - SportBusiness
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