NBA ‘probably’ won’t have fans in arena if 19-20 season resumes

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggested that if the NBA is able to resume the 19-20 season at all, it will likely do so without fans in attendance: “The league, more than gate receipts ultimately, it’s getting the games on television,” said Wojnarowski. “Whether it’s the regional networks and then the national deals that Turner, ESPN… Getting games in the postseason on TV and to that end, knowing that it is ‘likely’, ‘possible’, ‘certain’, wherever you want to fall on it, that if the games resume, they will probably do so without fans in the arena, at least initially. The league is open to not having these games in arenas, whether it’s a Staples Center or Barclays in Brooklyn or Oklahoma City. Wherever traditional arenas their teams play in. They’re looking at the practice facilities or the G League facilities where you wouldn’t have the backdrop of a cavernous empty arena on television. And it would be an environment where the TV sight-lines might be better. They can do some creative things in that way.”.