Three arenas at the Wide World of Sports can be converted into 20 basketball courtsESPN IMAGES
The NBA appears likely headed to Disney World for its return, and the resort will afford the league to "play two games at once (no fans in the stands) and still have a practice space," according to Brooks Barnes of the N.Y. TIMES. Everything about Disney World is "colossal -- at 25,000 acres, it is nearly twice the size of Manhattan -- and the sports facility is no exception." Disney World VP/ESPN Wide World of Sports Faron Kelley said that three arenas "can be configured into 20 basketball courts." The compound also "offers restaurants, a nine-lane track and field complex, 17 grass playing fields" and a 9,500-seat ballpark. In addition to safety, costs "came into account." It also was "certainly not lost" on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver that Disney is the league's "biggest customer," paying an estimated $1.4B a year to broadcast games on ESPN and ABC. Disney World also has "fewer opportunities for players to get into off-court trouble." Meanwhile, the benefit for Disney is that a deal with the NBA "would give the resort a much-needed shot in the arm." It "would put employees back to work, offer the invaluable marketing message that the property is safe to visit and generate facility fees and hotel spending." Analysts said that the NBA at a minimum "will spend tens of millions of dollars." But the "real value for Disney would come from ESPN, which has been starving for live sports to broadcast" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/3).
SAFETY FIRST: In Boston, Steve Bulpett writes in "whatever form the resumption of the 2019-20 season takes, the NBA will be housed in some type of 'bubble' on the Disney property near Orlando." Celtics coach Brad Stevens said, "It makes sense, the idea of isolating everyone and ultimately trying to make it an environment that has as little infection as possible I guess would be the right way to say it. I think there are still a lot of T's to still cross and I's to dot. The powers that be are working on that" (BOSTON HERALD, 6/3).
