Disney World Beckons the NBA Restart

Now or Never Week continues for North American sport.

The leagues are showing their firm grasp of the obvious by realizing the time has come to fish or cut bait:

• MLB has announced its plan to get The Show back on the road, and
• The NHL has a framework of a plan without a set date for resumption.

After considering all the alternatives, the NBA's taking its turn to pull back the curtain and reveal what it's been scheming and plotting in order to fire up the remainder of its season and/or playoffs.

 

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the league's confirmed it's smoothing out the details for turning parts of the 39 square mile Disney World complex into the NBA Bubble:

 

How does the communications officer for a kajillion-dollar enterprise not know to sectionalize text by using white space?

That looks like he ripped the passage from a damn Russian novel.

Eyestrain aside, the NBA's going through with what MLB, the NHL, and even the Big3 considered but ultimately rejected:

 

One advantage for being the third league to announce resumption plans is the public's been braced to understand what they're gonna get.

That in turn will depend on what the broadcast contracts dictate what's gonna be required for leagues and teams to salvage as much of the season's revenues as possible.

 

Right now, the magic number seems to be 70 regular-season games to keep the regional networks happy. A few teams, like the Lakers, will need to play seven more, while others, like the Hawks, are only three games away from that target.

Surely, one reason why the centralized hub suits the NBA is they've sorta done this before. Their Vegas Summer League has provided a template that works in a short-term environment. Expanding that to a private property like Disney World will still present a new set of logistical issues, but the league's clearly decided there's nothing they can't overcome.

 

Look for the NBA to descend on Coronado Springs, complete with:

• Three villages,
• A health club, 
• A self-contained marina, and most importantly,
• Around 200,000 square feet of convention space that would be ideal for team meetings, film rooms, and media facilities.

Additionally, there's the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, with a hospital nearby and having three arenas:

• HP Field House ...It already hosts the annual AdvoCare Invitational on the NCAA Hoops calendar and has multiple courts with state-of-the-art broadcasting capabilities.
• The Arena ... It hosts cheer and dance competitions and can be configured to hold three basketball courts.
• Visa Athletic Center ... It's a massive structure that can be configured into basically anything.

 

Whatever route it takes, the NBA is counting on firing up the games again the first week of July. The specific dates will be determined within the next month, after which quarantines will be decided and training camps will commence.

This summer will never have seen so many sports, even if they're only available on-screen. Fans will damn near need another quarantine lockdown to keep track of them all.

Then again, perish the thought.