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As professional sports leagues across Europe and Asia close their doors to fans, the NBA is mulling similar options. With the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, the NBA’s board of governors will have a conference call with the commissioner’s office on Wednesday morning, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
One option currently on the table is to move games to cities which have yet to suffer outbreaks.
If the virus clusters and forces a team out of its city and arena for a period of time, there has been discussion on moving games to the away opponent’s arena if that city hasn’t suffered an outbreak — or even moving games to neutral cities and sites, league sources tell ESPN.
Also on the table are removing fans entirely. Wojnarowski said it is among many options, complicated by the fact that the United States has struggled to adequately and efficiently make accurate testing widespread:
“Including eliminating fans out from buildings for games or, more drastically, suspending game operations for a period of time — but sources say decisions on those options remain complicated by the fact that there has been such a limited amount of public testing for the coronavirus in the United States. There is no full understanding of how widespread and debilitating the virus could become in the states.”
That call with the NBA’s board of governors will be followed by an additional two conference calls on Thursday with team presidents and general managers. The Warriors could be specifically affected, outside of internal decisions. Santa Clara County instituted a legal order banning gatherings of groups of more than 1,000 people, which will affect both the San Jose Sharks and Earthquakes.
Wojnarowski reported that the Warriors have been in touch with local health officials about playing games without fans:
San Francisco health officials have yet to tell mandate that the Golden State Warriors play games without fans, but those conversations have been ongoing with the franchise. The Warriors are the league’s highest-grossing team on game nights, averaging somewhere between $3.6 million and $3.8 million per game, sources said.