After weeks of speculation, the NBA season will be back in time for Christmas Day.
On Thursday night, the National Basketball Players Association confirmed that the players agreed to playing a 72 game regular season. The 2020-2021 season will begin on December 22.
Shams Charania of the Athletic and Stadium was the first to break the news of the agreement between the owners and the players.
Both Shams and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski have provided further detail on the agreement on twitter.
This is huge news for all parties of the league. According to Woj, if the NBA were to begin the season in January it could lead to losses in revenue between $500 million to one billion dollars.
In addition, Shams reported that the NBA aims to have arena suits open to fans. But only at a 25-50 percent capacity depending on local regulations. These fans would have to follow protocols. Such as wearing masks, social distancing, and coronavirus testing.
Woj also reported that the NBA was searching for ways to increase cash flow, including working to expand guidelines on sports betting, hard alcohol, and casinos. All of this could generate between 80 and 100 million in revenue.
What Will the Season Look Like
After Covid-19 put last season on hold, many were speculating how that would affect the league’s calendar for the 2020-2021 season. The Finals concluded Oct. 11th, which is about the time teams were getting ready for preseason games last year.
Finally, with the season set to begin on Dec. 22nd, training camp begins on Dec. 1. There are also talks that there will be no All-Star game. The season will look to end in June as usual. By then everything should go back to normal schedule.
At last, with fewer regular season games being played, this accommodates to another play in tournament for both conferences, as well as finishing right in time before the Summer Olympics in Japan.
Key Players Sitting Out?
Besides all of this, it has been noted that Danny Green said LeBron James wouldn’t participate in the first month of the campaign if it were to begin in late December.
However, nobody knows for certain what will happen by then and if anyone will sit out. But overall we are getting basketball back for Christmas.
