Trail Blazers President & CEO Chris McGowan said starting the NBA season in December is “just the reality of what we’re all dealing with and I can see the logic in it because you want to get started and get into the season so we can get through it and build towards 2021-22." Appearing on NBC Sports Northwest's "Talkin' Blazers," McGowan said, "In a normal course you know when the season starts and you get rolling, but now we may start in front of no fans, we may start in front of a limited capacity situation so you just have to plan for so many different scenarios.” McGowan noted the NBA Draft is Nov. 18, so if the season starts around Christmas it will make for a short turnaround, but “these just aren’t normal times so everyone’s going to have to bend a little bit.” Meanwhile, McGowan said the pandemic has aided in "making the facilities cleaner (and) more contactless.” He noted the Moda Center has “paid close attention to the air filtration in the building and we’re retrofitting the filters” in order to “alleviate some of those concerns that people have about being indoors." McGowan: “We were heading in this direction, but (the pandemic) certainly accelerated it." McGowan said 25% fan capacity is “roughly the number" the team is targeting, but “we’re going to phase back in and make sure we do it in a safe manner." McGowan said the biggest challenge of not having fans in the stands is having them stay "connected with the games when they can’t buy a ticket and come sit in the seat." However, he said, "We can do that through digital and our web site" (“Talkin’ Blazers,” NBCSPORTSNORTHWEST.com, 10/23).
