The NBA’s Return How its worked compared to other major leagues
Written By Trellin McCoy
It’s been about two weeks since we have seen the return of sports and out of all the major American leagues, the NBA has prevailed, where other leagues fumble.
There is a multitude of reasons why the NBA has been successful in resuming play, for one they have a commissioner who is often referred to as a “Players Commissioner”. Adam Silver has proven time and time again that his priority is player interests and safety, where almost all other sports leagues seem to care more about the interests of the owners and in some cases totally disregard player safety (*Cough, NFL).
The players’ safety has been ensured by mass testing, social distancing when they are not on the court, and most importantly of all, creating a closed bubble environment. Up to this point, the bubble has proven itself highly effective with zero new cases over the past couple of weeks of testing.
In comparison, other leagues like the MLB are still opting for teams to travel to various fields with few restrictions on the players’ actions outside of baseball. Not so shockingly within the first weeks of the season, they had their first outbreak when a combined twenty players and coaches from the Marlins tested positive for COVID-19.
Most shocking is that out of all the major sports leagues, the NFL was the only one in its offseason with a head start to plan and are fumbling to come up with a solution at the moment. Owners and commissioner Roger Goodell have yet to come up with any concrete plan and with owners like Jerry Jones stating that there will be fans at Cowboys games, it is safe to say they are possibly heading for a disastrous season that not only risks the health of its players but also the fans this go around.
On top of all this not only has the NBA done the best at ensuring player safety but up to this point, they have done the best at recreating the feel of a normal game without a crowd. Having virtual fans in the background, pumped in crowd noise with on the dot inflection points when Lebron dunks on a defender and commentators like Kevin Harlan on the call, the world almost feels normal for a two-hour time slot. HustleTV we love our sports.