2020 End of Season / Playoffs

[slaw]

Yes exactly. They've cancelled over work stoppages (not the NBA, but NHL and mlb) so they can stop with the "integrity of the sport" stuff.

This is being pushed by owners and players association, become they crunched the numbers and the way they lose the least amount of money is by honoring playoff TV deals, and then rolling every season back to go December to August.

I think its ridiculous. The NHL is proposing the same thing, a permanent shift from December to August. There's a reason July and August are a sports dead zone. These leagues are in for a rude awakening of they think there won't be a huge drop in ratings, every year. Canadians (and nearly half of Americans) live in winter climates, and wait all year to go vacation and enjoy the outdoors in July. They will not be glued to Carolina vs Nashville Stanley cup finals while at the lake house. They'll be outside, doing other shit.

Everyone has lost their minds.... a lot of this nonsense will be forgotten once people regain their senses.

[chris]

Yes exactly. They've cancelled over work stoppages (not the NBA, but NHL and mlb) so they can stop with the "integrity of the sport" stuff.

This is being pushed by owners and players association, become they crunched the numbers and the way they lose the least amount of money is by honoring playoff TV deals, and then rolling every season back to go December to August.

I think its ridiculous. The NHL is proposing the same thing, a permanent shift from December to August. There's a reason July and August are a sports dead zone. These leagues are in for a rude awakening of they think there won't be a huge drop in ratings, every year. Canadians (and nearly half of Americans) live in winter climates, and wait all year to go vacation and enjoy the outdoors in July. They will not be glued to Carolina vs Nashville Stanley cup finals while at the lake house. They'll be outside, doing other shit.

i hear ya. i wanted a resolution to this season because of how awesome it's been and because they deserve a chance to defend the title properly, but that window's almost already passed.

i wouldn't want it to come back if it meant a permanent change in the schedule.

[planetmars]

I'm a fan of the December-August schedule. I'm a one sport fan and the NBA really only gets interesting post Christmas. The NFL just has too much power and most sports media outlets spend too much time talking about it.

I get the vacation time thing.. but baseball still get about 28K people a game. It's an outdoor event, but there are 80 home games a year. I don't think baskeball arenas would be hurting too much.

And ultimately it would just be two months pushed forward not like three or four.

From a $$ perspective, I just think if the NBA is not competing with the NFL for 2 months of the year, it will only help them, not hurt them.

[planetmars]

As for this bastardized season.. I think they should call it the David Stern Trophy for one season.. and not the Larry OB. Give the winners a different trophy. Put a giant asterix in the record book for the abomination that we'll all get to see for the rest of the year. And just tell your grand kids that you lived through it.

[G__Deane]

I'm now ready to scrap the season and not mess up next year. Summer is for baseball alone and only if you are just listening to it on your deck or lakeside, watching it on a patio or live at a game or two, after eating street meat and well lubricated before the game itself and the insane Rogers Centre beer prices lol.

I also think the Raps are the only team that wouldn't need an asterisk if they play this season out and are the last team standing because we'd be back to back and seen as less of a lucky one-off.

[chris]

As for this bastardized season.. I think they should call it the David Stern Trophy for one season.. and not the Larry OB. Give the winners a different trophy. Put a giant asterix in the record book for the abomination that we'll all get to see for the rest of the year. And just tell your grand kids that you lived through it.

i could get behind that

[KeonClark]

I'm a fan of the December-August schedule. I'm a one sport fan and the NBA really only gets interesting post Christmas. The NFL just has too much power and most sports media outlets spend too much time talking about it.

I get the vacation time thing.. but baseball still get about 28K people a game. It's an outdoor event, but there are 80 home games a year. I don't think baskeball arenas would be hurting too much.

And ultimately it would just be two months pushed forward not like three or four.

From a $$ perspective, I just think if the NBA is not competing with the NFL for 2 months of the year, it will only help them, not hurt them.

NFL only owns sundays and mondays. NBA makes their premier nights on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. And while their may be some gains in early season ratings because of Iess overlap from NFL, there would surely be losses in playoff ratings in the thick of summer, especially when your team is out. I know I'm not rushing home to lebron vs giannis in July, but I usually am in may.

it's even worse for hockey. Hockey is not meant to be played in July. It starts in October damnit. Been that way since before the curved stick.

and then what happens if there's another covid? We shift another season, start In February or something?

I'm fine with playing out this year, its whatever. But then play 60 game regular season next year and catch back up. Stop she horning every game in for revenue. It's short sighted and will cost long term.

[planetmars]

So Raptor players staying in Canada are allowed to cross the border to play in the US. Not sure if American born players can come into Canada just yet.. but that also could mean the entire Raptor team could head to the States to practice/train/etc.

More here:
https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/news/...ns-nba-players

[planetmars]

NFL only owns sundays and mondays. NBA makes their premier nights on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. And while their may be some gains in early season ratings because of Iess overlap from NFL, there would surely be losses in playoff ratings in the thick of summer, especially when your team is out. I know I'm not rushing home to lebron vs giannis in July, but I usually am in may.

it's even worse for hockey. Hockey is not meant to be played in July. It starts in October damnit. Been that way since before the curved stick.

and then what happens if there's another covid? We shift another season, start In February or something?

I'm fine with playing out this year, its whatever. But then play 60 game regular season next year and catch back up. Stop she horning every game in for revenue. It's short sighted and will cost long term.

I'm okay either way. Watching sport in August won't kill me. I just know that the NBA doesn't start advertising their big games until Christmas for a reason.. and it's because of the NFL.

As for the playoffs, yeah it may hurt their ratings, it might not. Finals are currently in June which is the start of summer anyway. Yet they still get big numbers. I think it's just become routine and that's what makes it uncomfortable.

If the new routine is that playoffs end in August.. I think people will get used to it.

I don't think they'll ever do 60 game seasons. I think they need at least 72 to cover their television contract. And that contract doesn't expire for awhile.

[planetmars]

Sorry it was 70 games to get 100% of their proceeds from television money. This was from Windhorst in one of his podcasts the other day. It's why the NBA is trying to get teams to play a few regular season games when they return so they get all their money back from their TV contract.

If they can play 2021-2022 in 70 games and start in November, I'm all for it.. but the summer will be very short if they start next season in December. I think the best chance is for them to have another lockout via covid or labour disputes to re-adjust the schedule back to Nov-Jun. Otherwise I think December-August might be a permanent thing.

They need at least a couple of months of an off season for their players and for draft/free agency/summer league/etc.

[Rudy Bargnani]

NFL only owns sundays and mondays. NBA makes their premier nights on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. And while their may be some gains in early season ratings because of Iess overlap from NFL, there would surely be losses in playoff ratings in the thick of summer, especially when your team is out. I know I'm not rushing home to lebron vs giannis in July, but I usually am in may.

it's even worse for hockey. Hockey is not meant to be played in July. It starts in October damnit. Been that way since before the curved stick.

and then what happens if there's another covid? We shift another season, start In February or something?

I'm fine with playing out this year, its whatever. But then play 60 game regular season next year and catch back up. Stop she horning every game in for revenue. It's short sighted and will cost long term.

I agree with a lot of this but in terms of the 2020-2021 season the delayed
start is likely financially motivated. Ticket sales are 40% of revenue and if there are no fans in the stands there are big Losses. Pushing the season Start back to December buys time for a vaccine and fans in the stands = more money.

[bertarapsfan]

Give me playoffs or give me Corona!

[G__Deane]

I don't think you'll ever see the NBA and particularly the NHL move to any permanent schedule that includes July-Aug.
Too many rich players like their Summer's off and the wives/kids out of school would never allow it.

If this season opens again and plays through the Summer/Fall, you'd get a shortened/compressed season next year and then back to normal imo

[planetmars]

Zach has a take on how he'd like the season to come back:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...offs-look-like

Too long to quote, but gist is that the bottom 7 "playoff" teams play in playoff tourney (Magic, Nets, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Kings,Blazers, Spurs). Top 3 teams get ranked 14-16.. and then we do a conference-less bracket going forward. And allow the Magic/Nets/Grizzlies some advantage in this tourney so they don't get boned out of a playoff spot.

[inthepaint]

Zach has a take on how he'd like the season to come back:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...offs-look-like

Too long to quote, but gist is that the bottom 7 "playoff" teams play in playoff tourney (Magic, Nets, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Kings,Blazers, Spurs). Top 3 teams get ranked 14-16.. and then we do a conference-less bracket going forward. And allow the Magic/Nets/Grizzlies some advantage in this tourney so they don't get boned out of a playoff spot.

That's actually not a bad idea imo. You could actually put these 7 teams you mentioned on a separate bubble location (like Vegas or California Disney), and have the tournament there while the others start to get ready in Orlando (maybe even playing some exhibition games pre-season style). Or you could do everything in Orlando.

Then when everybody is ready with their earned playoffs spots and in better rhythm/physical shape, you start the actual 1-16 playoffs.

There might not be enough time for that, but it would take care of 3 things teams/players can grumble about:
--Borderline playoff teams can actually earn (or lose) a playoff berth, so you add fairness there to make up for the lost regular season games
--You maintain the playoff format and atmosphere rather then a bastardized 20-team tournament without playoffs
--You give the players the chance to play real games and gel together as a team and physically before the playoffs

As a bonus, you'd probably get to the number the minimum number of games for the TV deal stuff.