Even a glimpse at the planning for the 2020-2021 season for the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association reveals something interesting: it’s a way of getting a quick glimpse at the infrastructure, planning, and business chaos that COVID-19 is causing throughout our society. The NHL and the NBA are more than just hockey and basketball, they are us, in the sense that all of our workplaces and leisure activities are incredibly interconnected to a hundred other aspects of our culture and society. The internet, , and the latest in epidemiological research on the COVID-19 virus are just some of the pieces that have to be fitted together in what must feel like a complex game of real-life, real-time Tetris.
Both leagues, of course, just managed to wrap up their seasons several months late, and under strange conditions. Typically, both leagues would have started about a month ago, so finishing up late means they’re late to start. Being late to start triggers falling dominos. Will the NBA be able to start in time to have its usual Christmas Day broadcast, so important for revenue? Will the NHL be able to start in time in order to capture the huge audience—and arguably a hockey outreach effort in the States—it usually builds with the Winter Classic on January 1st?
Just as importantly, will the NBA be able to schedule around the 2020 Summer Olympics? (The 2020 Olympics will be held in the summer of 2021) The Olympics are a task of logistics in the best of times, but with moving schedules impacting various sports around the planet, it could prove to be a nightmare this year. Basketball fans will, of course, want to see their favorite basketball stars playing for their respective countries: that’s good for international basketball, and what’s good for international basketball is generally good for the NBA in the long term. In the short term, it’s difficult to schedule the concluding act of the NBA season, when the league’s biggest stars are likely going to be competing for their country. The league could use some brand awareness in North America after months of COVID disruption, so the absence of marquee players in the NBA would hurt. The league is in between, as we say in English, . Hockey faces similar challenges, although perhaps a bit less pressing, as a delayed season this year means, potentially, a series of delayed seasons as we head toward the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The news of functioning vaccines coming from a number of sources may ease the strain on the sports business world, but of course COVID vaccination manufacture and distribution may end up being one of the most intriguing and complex biomedical efforts of our lifetimes. It will be, in other words, hardly a .
by Nathan R. Elliott
i. NHL 2020-21 Season Plans: Latest on format, timeline, and challenges. ESPN, Nov 2, 2020. 7 mins. Intermediate/Advanced.
ii. “When Should the NBA season start.” SI, Oct 28, 2020. 6 mins. Intermediate.
iii. “NBA Schedule Debate: Winners and Losers in the NBA’s Pre-Christmas Start.” ESPN, Nov 5, 2020. 3 mins. Intermediate.
iv. NHL postpones 2021 Winter Classic and All-Star Game. NBC Sports, Oct 22, 2020. 2 mins. Beginner/Intermediate.
v. Play-in Tourney on Summer Olympics likely out for NBA in 2020-21. The Toronto Star, Nov
17,2021. 3 mins, Beginner/Intermediate.