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The NBA is going to be forced to make a decision about how to proceed with their season in the coming weeks as cities begin to impose restrictions on large gatherings due to coronavirus concerns.
After Santa Clara banned large gatherings in the city this week, the city of San Francisco has asked the Golden State Warriors to suspend games at the Chase Center.
BREAKING: Santa Clara Public Health Officer just announced a legal order banning events w/ more than a thousand people in attendance. It will take place Wednesday March 11 & last for three weeks. It does not include places like airports or shopping malls @kron4news #Coronavirus
— Taylor Bisacky (@TaylorBisackyTV) March 10, 2020
San Francisco officials have asked the Golden State Warriors to cancel games due to coronavirus, per @EskSF
“I hope they come to that conclusion before we make them come to that conclusion.” pic.twitter.com/2FilnwuNxk
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 10, 2020
On Wednesday the NBA board of governors is set to discuss several scenarios including playing games at neutral sites and even suspending games for a brief period of time due to possible restrictions on large gatherings in several cities.
ESPN Sources: NBA is discussing scenarios that include moving some games to cities that have yet to suffer outbreaks — including opponent arenas or neutral sites. https://t.co/i3wxmSMNyw
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 11, 2020
NBA’s discussing a number of possibilities — including eliminating fans from games or, more drastically, suspending game operations for a period of time. Decisions on those options remain complicated by fact there’s been such a limited amount of public testing for coronavirus. https://t.co/1XQXajNTXS
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 11, 2020
Via ESPN
If the virus clusters and forces a team out of its city and arena for a period of time, there has been discussion about moving games to the away opponent’s arena if that city hasn’t suffered an outbreak — or even moving games to neutral cities and sites, league sources told ESPN.
The NBA is discussing a number of possibilities — including eliminating fans from buildings for games or, more drastically, suspending game operations for a period of time — but sources say decisions on those options remain complicated by the fact that there has been a limited amount of public testing for the coronavirus in the United States. There is no full understanding of how widespread and debilitating the virus could become in the country
It wouldn’t be surprising if NBA games get suspended at this point considering entire countries are getting shut down due to the coronavirus.