The Sports Impact of COVID-19

[Red Comet]

17 hours ago, bosrs1 said:

Always the best kind of sports owner... one who is in it for the land acquisition.

 

Just like Stan Kroenke and his TRUE and HONEST hair.

[bosrs1]

1 hour ago, Red Comet said:

 

Just like Stan Kroenke and his TRUE and HONEST hair.

 

Case and point. Lew Wolff former owner of the A's and Earthquakes is another. Hell he was a blatant example as he dumped one team when his land swap dream died and he dropped the other as soon as it had been consummated. 

[beachperroAZ]

20 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

Why should they play more games than a regular finals? If they decided to play an abbreviated playoffs that would make sense. They still need to set up for the NBA lottery and draft seeding.

Just to make it more interesting for the fans and give them more product to make up for not having a playoffs.  It would be a way to salvage the season. 

[beachperroAZ]

On 5/11/2020 at 11:44 AM, AustinFromBoston said:

NBA & NHL are going to wait until at least the end of June/beginning of July before they call the season

They should probably make that decision by next week because normally the finals in each league would be starting around the last week of May first week of June. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I know some ideas were floated two months ago that were non-starters then, but now that we're headed into June and people are maybe stir crazier than they were prior, I do wonder if an abbreviated NBA playoffs in a central location is possible.

 

Instead of 16 teams, maybe go straight to the top 8 or top 4 (either by conference or overall record). Maybe broadcast from Orlando or Vegas or wherever. Any gym would do and, based on my experience with summer league, you'll still get competitive basketball with a couple of hundred people watching or 20,000.

 

Any champion would have an asterisk this season no matter what, so I think it's imperative to be 1. safe and 2. creative.

[Digby]

NWSL is floating an idea for all teams in a central location in Utah and just do a one-off tournament. I like that idea for the seasons that haven't started yet, a la MLS and maybe even something like that for MLB. Seems to check off those safe and creative boxes. Obviously that's even more far apart than a normal season, but in a way that's preferable? Call it the 2020 Heroes Tournament or the Listen To Scientists, You Idiots Cup or something. Some do-gooder corporate brand will sponsor it for a big donation too.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

21 minutes ago, Digby said:

NWSL is floating an idea for all teams in a central location in Utah and just do a one-off tournament. I like that idea for the seasons that haven't started yet, a la MLS and maybe even something like that for MLB. Seems to check off those safe and creative boxes. Obviously that's even more far apart than a normal season, but in a way that's preferable? Call it the 2020 Heroes Tournament or the Listen To Scientists, You Idiots Cup or something. Some do-gooder corporate brand will sponsor it for a big donation too.

 

For sure. It's a real bummer to all of the staff and everyone else who is losing work this season, but you still get a champion of individual leagues and time to regroup for the next season.

 

Can you imagine if this was a World Cup year? What a disaster that would have been.

 

EDIT: Though as I say that, I realize we pretty easily handwaved away an Olympics. We as a species do endure.

[Digby]

I actually thought that was better off -- move Euro and Olympics back a year, fine, whatever. Next year would've been the no World Cup/no Euro dead-zone anyway, for those of us heavy on the summer international tournament bit, so a trade is fine. The loss of single league championships is rougher.

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, beachperroAZ said:

Just to make it more interesting for the fans and give them more product to make up for not having a playoffs.  It would be a way to salvage the season. 

If we're still worried about exposure, extending a series makes no sense. 

[MJWalker45]

28 minutes ago, Digby said:

I actually thought that was better off -- move Euro and Olympics back a year, fine, whatever. Next year would've been the no World Cup/no Euro dead-zone anyway, for those of us heavy on the summer international tournament bit, so a trade is fine. The loss of single league championships is rougher.

I hope this convinces CONNEBOL to keep Copa America a year opposite of the Euros, but they'll probably make up for it by having 3 competitions in a row.

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

I know some ideas were floated two months ago that were non-starters then, but now that we're headed into June and people are maybe stir crazier than they were prior, I do wonder if an abbreviated NBA playoffs in a central location is possible.

 

Instead of 16 teams, maybe go straight to the top 8 or top 4 (either by conference or overall record). Maybe broadcast from Orlando or Vegas or wherever. Any gym would do and, based on my experience with summer league, you'll still get competitive basketball with a couple of hundred people watching or 20,000.

 

Any champion would have an asterisk this season no matter what, so I think it's imperative to be 1. safe and 2. creative.

Watching how they light the arena for Battle of Atlantis, I think this would be the best option. Then just have the DJ in his corner pipe in music, and have fans Instagram in like they do at the arena. 

[AustinFromBoston]

NHL will be an easier decision since they only had a few weeks of games left. 

They could easily go right into the playoffs, maybe do a best of 5 fore each round, and be done with it in less than a month.  

 

NBA will be more difficult since there was at least 2 months left of the season. 

[Digby]

33 minutes ago, AustinFromBoston said:

NHL will be an easier decision since they only had a few weeks of games left. 

They could easily go right into the playoffs, maybe do a best of 5 fore each round, and be done with it in less than a month.  

 

NBA will be more difficult since there was at least 2 months left of the season. 

 

There was only one month of NBA, and the standings were pretty well set.

 

Hypothetically something wild could have happened, but probably not. Pretty unlikely that either conference 9-seed would have been able to close their respective gaps, conveniently enough. I don't think the fact that the OK/TX rivalry triangle didn't get to duke it out for 5th-seed honors is really all that great an injustice.

[BBTV]

Continuing regular seasons would be unnecessarily reckless.  Dragging 50% of employees out of quarantine and into harm's way is way better (almost half as risky) as bringing 100% back - especially when some number of them have no shot anyway.

 

Don't laugh, but should double headers in NBA and NHL be ruled out?  Teams have played multi-OT games before, so while the quality of the second game might not be the best, it's physically possible.  The obvious problem would be if either game of the double header goes into OT, but whatever just play.

[Red Comet]

13 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Continuing regular seasons would be unnecessarily reckless.  Dragging 50% of employees out of quarantine and into harm's way is way better (almost half as risky) as bringing 100% back - especially when some number of them have no shot anyway.

 

Don't laugh, but should double headers in NBA and NHL be ruled out?  Teams have played multi-OT games before, so while the quality of the second game might not be the best, it's physically possible.  The obvious problem would be if either game of the double header goes into OT, but whatever just play.

 

Sounds like a good idea in theory, but good luck getting the player's unions to agree to that. 

 

I'd say just end the regular season as it is and start an abridged playoffs. Best of 5 for the first couple of rounds and then Best of 7 for the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup/NBA Finals.

[buzzcut]

56 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

 

Sounds like a good idea in theory, but good luck getting the player's unions to agree to that. 

 

I'd say just end the regular season as it is and start an abridged playoffs. Best of 5 for the first couple of rounds and then Best of 7 for the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup/NBA Finals.

Or better still, 2-games total-points(goals), best-of-3(1-2), best-of-5(2-2-1), then best-of-7(2-3-2).

 

At least that's how I would do it.

[beachperroAZ]

On 5/19/2020 at 9:49 AM, DG_ThenNowForever said:

I know some ideas were floated two months ago that were non-starters then, but now that we're headed into June and people are maybe stir crazier than they were prior, I do wonder if an abbreviated NBA playoffs in a central location is possible.

 

Instead of 16 teams, maybe go straight to the top 8 or top 4 (either by conference or overall record). Maybe broadcast from Orlando or Vegas or wherever. Any gym would do and, based on my experience with summer league, you'll still get competitive basketball with a couple of hundred people watching or 20,000.

 

Any champion would have an asterisk this season no matter what, so I think it's imperative to be 1. safe and 2. creative.

I would be in favor of that or jump straight to the finals with the two best teams or a semi final with the four best teams in the league of each (NHL & NBA). Do it in a neutral site with no fans and bam be done with it!

[MJWalker45]

22 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Continuing regular seasons would be unnecessarily reckless.  Dragging 50% of employees out of quarantine and into harm's way is way better (almost half as risky) as bringing 100% back - especially when some number of them have no shot anyway.

 

Don't laugh, but should double headers in NBA and NHL be ruled out?  Teams have played multi-OT games before, so while the quality of the second game might not be the best, it's physically possible.  The obvious problem would be if either game of the double header goes into OT, but whatever just play.

If teams are sharing arenas, best to set them a day apart. EPL is not doing neutral stadiums anymore, but still no fans if they kick off. It still looks like the NBA wants to complete the regular season though by having teams centrally located.

[BBTV]

1 hour ago, MJWalker45 said:

If teams are sharing arenas, best to set them a day apart. EPL is not doing neutral stadiums anymore, but still no fans if they kick off. It still looks like the NBA wants to complete the regular season though by having teams centrally located.

 

What's the benefit of dragging the Cavs and Warriors (and their staffs) out of quarantine?  I get that maybe teams need to beat them in order to climb into a playoff slot, but fighting for an 8 seed just seems a little trivial right now.  And if any of the lousy teams are tanking, then it seems silly to bring them back just to lose more.  And if they're going to do best of 7 series' without fans, then does it matter much if all 7 games are played at the higher seed's arena?  There might be a benefit to playoffs in a central location, but it also might be manageable to just do one location / series. 

[MJWalker45]

2 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

What's the benefit of dragging the Cavs and Warriors (and their staffs) out of quarantine?  I get that maybe teams need to beat them in order to climb into a playoff slot, but fighting for an 8 seed just seems a little trivial right now.  And if any of the lousy teams are tanking, then it seems silly to bring them back just to lose more.  And if they're going to do best of 7 series' without fans, then does it matter much if all 7 games are played at the higher seed's arena?  There might be a benefit to playoffs in a central location, but it also might be manageable to just do one location / series. 

The difference between 8 and 9 is 3.5 games, but playing regular season games until teams are eliminated makes no sense unless all games are played. Personally, I'd say start the playoffs at Disney, it saves you costs on hotel rooms and makes it easier to deal with the MLS bringing everything down there as well. Golden State has played 65 games as has Cleveland. The teams that would cry about not making the playoffs because of not playing enough games are not within that 3 game gap and don't have more than two games less than the teams in 8th place. It means San Antonio's playoff streak would come to an end, but they can just slap an asterisk on it and keep plugging on.  I think tossing the lottery would even be a good idea this year but I doubt teams like New York, Minnesota or Phoenix would sign off on giving up the chance to pick first in the draft this year.