The NBA is in talks with The Walt Disney Company on a single-site scenario for a resumption of play in Central Florida in late July, the clearest sign yet that the league believes the season can continue amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The National Basketball Players Association is also part of the talks with Disney. Games would be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, a massive campus on the Disney property near Orlando.
The NBA had previously looked at Las Vegas for its "bubble city," talking with MGM Resorts International officials earlier this month about hosting fanless games across its many local properties. Las Vegas has the hotel rooms and venues to be an ideal venue for the league.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass said the conversations with Disney were still “exploratory,” and that the site would be used not only for games but for practices and housing as well. It's possible the league could use multiple regional sites, which would make Las Vegas an ideal landing spot for west coast games.
“Our priority continues to be the health and safety of all involved, and we are working with public health experts and government officials on a comprehensive set of guidelines to ensure that appropriate medical protocols and protections are in place,” Bass said.
The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a 255-acre campus with multiple arenas that could host games simultaneously and has been home to, among other things, the Jr. NBA World Championship in recent years. ESPN is primarily owned by Disney, one of the NBA’s broadcast partners.
Space won’t be an issue, even if Major League Soccer — which is also in talks to resume its season at Disney — is there at the same time as the NBA. The entire Disney complex is roughly 40 square miles, with nearly 24,000 hotel rooms owned or operated by Disney within the campus.
The NBA suspended its season March 11, becoming the first of the U.S. major pro leagues to do so after it became known that All-Star center Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19. The list of NBA players who were known to test positive eventually grew to 10 — not all were identified — and Commissioner Adam Silver said last month that the actual total was even higher.
But the league has been working on countless return-to-play scenarios for several weeks, all with the caveat that testing would be an integral part of any resumption of the season. Teams have been allowed to welcome players back to their training facilities for voluntary sessions since May 8, and more than half of the league’s franchises have taken advantage of that opportunity.
The next steps would likely include a loosening of the restrictions for those voluntary workouts — no more than four players are currently allowed inside any facility at a time — and then a plan for when training camps could open. If the league plans to resume play in late July, then camps conceivably could open around the start of that month.
If the NBA picks Orlando, Fla., that could make Las Vegas an ideal landing spot for NHL's host city in its post-coronavirus reboot. The NHL Players’ Association's executive committee authorized moving forward in talks with the league on returning to play from the coronavirus suspension, approving 24 teams making the playoffs with other aspects still to be negotiated.
The NHL's current intention appears to be using "hubs," which would could be one or multiple NHL cities that would house the players and serve as the host for games. According to the Athletic, Las Vegas is one of a handful of cities under consideration, which makes sense considering the vast number of hotel rooms in close proximity to T-Mobile Arena. Other cities mentioned include Toronto; Edmonton, Alberta; and Columbus, Ohio.