League executives announce potential plans amidst Covid-19

BY KAYLA KARIM

It has been almost a month now since the NBA season was suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak, although it seems like much longer for fans. Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump held a conference call with the commissioners and top executives of the majority of the major leagues that operate in North America. Some of the members on the call included, NFL’s Roger Goodell, NBA’s Adam Silver, NHL’s Gary Bettman, MLB’s Rob Manfred along with the leaders of the MLS, the WNBA, the PGA and LPGA tours, NASCAR, IndyCar and WWE. There is no determined date as to when any of the professional sports will resume as it depends on the discretion of public-health experts.

For NBA fans, Adam Silver was in attendance but he refused to release any sort of date for when the league will resume. He did mention though that it won’t even be a possibility until at least May 1^st, 2020.  The league has been holding internal discussions and also talking with players and team officials about “many different scenarios for restarting the season”.

One of the plans that has surfaced was to have a playoff tournament held entirely in Las Vegas. In this situation, games would be played in an empty arena or gym, with players, coaches, team support staff as well as broadcast crews quarantined in hotels. Despite this scenario being very difficult to execute, the NBA has wrote off the idea of proceeding with traditional playoffs due to the travel restrictions and various states of health in NBA cities.

Over in the NHL, the playoffs were supposed to start today. That isn’t happening according to plan however the NHL is reportedly considering North Dakota as a destination for the continuation of the season. Commissioner Gary Bettman said for the first time publically, that completing the regular season might not be possible.

Sportsnet Elliotte Friedman reported yesterday that one of the venues the league is considering is Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, where the University of North Dakota hockey teams play holding approximately 11,600 fans. According to many reports, the NHL would prefer holding early playoff rounds in multiple cities. In addition, the NHL is reportedly prepared to play through August and possibly into September with a type of tournament in.  If there were any concerns about the condition of the ice, there is no need to worry. Gary Bettman said that the ice quality won’t be an issue in the summer months as the modern areas can handle it.