Everything Off Season

[DanH]

If this is Plan A, they better have a Plan B. Only way Raps are playing in Canada is if Toronto is 100% open (or very close). You can't bankrupt people and take their jobs away in the name of the public good while granting leave to NBA players to fly in and out of the city. The backlash to that would be enormous and no politician wants to be on the hot seat defending that.

Meh, there would be bubble-ish restrictions on visiting players and the constant testing addresses a lot of the concerns so long as the NBA is footing the testing bill. I doubt there would be much backlash. NHL just held massive bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton with huge numbers of players coming in from the states (once, but still the sheer number...) and local support staff going in and out. Literally zero backlash from that.

[planetmars]

Could be a very short off season if the NBA has its way:

The draft is currently scheduled for Nov 18.

Free agency is usually after.. although apparently some players and teams are already making deals:

[DanH]

Could be a very short off season if the NBA has its way:

The draft is currently scheduled for Nov 18.

Free agency is usually after.. although apparently some players and teams are already making deals:

I just this morning posted an idea on twitter to hold FA before the draft. They'd need to get their cap situation and CBA agreement sorted quickly, but it would actually be a great opportunity to test drive the idea many have had to hold the draft after FA, so teams can make deals with their draft picks with cap space to help those deals happen, and with the knowledge of how early free agency played out.

Like, if they managed to set the cap by Nov 10th, they could have a 1 day moratorium and then run FA from Nov 11th to 17th, the draft on Nov 18th, and then have the rest of November for the dribs and drabs of FA leading up to training camp in December.

[golden]

If this is Plan A, they better have a Plan B. Only way Raps are playing in Canada is if Toronto is 100% open (or very close). You can't bankrupt people and take their jobs away in the name of the public good while granting leave to NBA players to fly in and out of the city. The backlash to that would be enormous and no politician wants to be on the hot seat defending that.

There are already exceptions, though. University students are allowed to cross the border daily to go to school in the US and return, which put them effectively into perpetual 14-day quarantines on both sides of the border. I suppose if the NBA could create a dynamic bubble system where they can guarantee that players are in a similar perpetual quarantine with daily testing.... that might pass muster.

[S.R.]

There are already exceptions, though. University students are allowed to cross the border daily to go to school in the US and return, which put them effectively into perpetual 14-day quarantines on both sides of the border. I suppose if the NBA could create a dynamic bubble system where they can guarantee that players are in a similar perpetual quarantine with daily testing.... that might pass muster.

Seems you should be able to get the visiting team into and out of the game within their own 'bubble.' Key to all of it would be rapid testing, rapid test the Raptors before and after home games and road trips. Rapid test visiting teams.

[G__Deane]

If this is Plan A, they better have a Plan B. Only way Raps are playing in Canada is if Toronto is 100% open (or very close). You can't bankrupt people and take their jobs away in the name of the public good while granting leave to NBA players to fly in and out of the city. The backlash to that would be enormous and no politician wants to be on the hot seat defending that.

The quick/instant testing would be a game changer and much more likely in the short term than a widespread vaccine imo. You're only talking a private plane load of ~50 people a couple of times per week max. Then hold them to one hotel and a private bus to the arena. Then ship them out after a humiliating loss

[G__Deane]

Seems you should be able to get the visiting team into and out of the game within their own 'bubble.' Key to all of it would be rapid testing, rapid test the Raptors before and after home games and road trips. Rapid test visiting teams.

The only problem with that of course, is you can be clear both before and after games, but develop it days later. Does the rapid testing catch when you were just exposed an hour ago?

[DanH]

The only problem with that of course, is you can be clear both before and after games, but develop it days later. Does the rapid testing catch when you were just exposed an hour ago?

Nothing's perfect, but when you limit your potential exposure times to a window of time that's a day or even hours, you will never cause a big numbers problem.

[slaw]

Meh, there would be bubble-ish restrictions on visiting players and the constant testing addresses a lot of the concerns so long as the NBA is footing the testing bill. I doubt there would be much backlash. NHL just held massive bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton with huge numbers of players coming in from the states (once, but still the sheer number...) and local support staff going in and out. Literally zero backlash from that.

The NHL is almost certainly going to have an all-Canadian division for next season to avoid the issue entirely. The Jays couldn't get an exemption and they pitched a complete bubble for visiting teams.

People can cite university students and skilled workers, etc., but pro sports are a different beast and the optics are terrible. The border and Ontario would need to be open 100%.

EDIT: To be clear. I am all for the Raps playing in Toronto and teams coming here. Just don't see it happening.

[golden]

The NHL is almost certainly going to have an all-Canadian division for next season to avoid the issue entirely. The Jays couldn't get an exemption and they pitched a complete bubble for visiting teams.

People can cite university students and skilled workers, etc., but pro sports are a different beast and the optics are terrible. The border and Ontario would need to be open 100%.

EDIT: To be clear. I am all for the Raps playing in Toronto and teams coming here. Just don't see it happening.

The only argument you are really making is "optics", which is weak. If other industries can setup safe travel bubbles that are at a low risk to add Covid cases, then 100%, allow those industries to cross borders too. Every industry should be thinking about ways to get back to some form of normal. If sports is the trigger for this, then we will be thanking the NBA for working out some of the those travel protocols and logistics.

[Demographic Shift]

The NHL is almost certainly going to have an all-Canadian division for next season to avoid the issue entirely. The Jays couldn't get an exemption and they pitched a complete bubble for visiting teams.

People can cite university students and skilled workers, etc., but pro sports are a different beast and the optics are terrible. The border and Ontario would need to be open 100%.

EDIT: To be clear. I am all for the Raps playing in Toronto and teams coming here. Just don't see it happening.

This may be true... but its amazing to see the simultaneous sucking and blowing on border crossing.

Flipped on the news at 6 and to my amazement the local toronto tv news anchor is doing her bit as she is crossing the US border to report on the us election.
How on earth is a b grade tv journo granted an exemption to cover something thats readily available on pretty much any communications platform when if I wanted to go visit family in NYC i can't go.

So.. as always.. our governments are pretty much ad hoc on their responses to issues from shutting down businesses to who gets to travel.

[Ebonhawke]

This may be true... but its amazing to see the simultaneous sucking and blowing on border crossing.

Flipped on the news at 6 and to my amazement the local toronto tv news anchor is doing her bit as she is crossing the US border to report on the us election.
How on earth is a b grade tv journo granted an exemption to cover something thats readily available on pretty much any communications platform when if I wanted to go visit family in NYC i can't go.

So.. as always.. our governments are pretty much ad hoc on their responses to issues from shutting down businesses to who gets to travel.

In this particular case, she may not have had to go through too much red tape, because the US is trying to project normalcy

However, the reporter might have some more hoops to jump through when coming back north

[Demographic Shift]

In this particular case, she may not have had to go through too much red tape, because the US is trying to project normalcy

However, the reporter might have some more hoops to jump through when coming back north

TV Journos are hardly an essential service so thats why I can't figure out how the hell this is happening. My wifes brother lives in NYC and there is virtually no way we can go there nor can he come here without some real work on what qualifies for a visit.
.
Sprinkle in heaping tablespoons of two face-ed-ness from this person as she fronts for global toronto and spends most of the newscast tut tuting the states for their abject disregard for the sanctity of human life and yet here she is.. right smack in the middle of it... and she had to scrap to get there.

That.. to me anyway ... is a case study for sucking and blowing.


I do hope the Raps get the green light to play here in Toronto... Rapid testing at airports which wasn't on the table when the Jays were making their pitch... There is ample evidence a bubble works and even after a few stutter steps MLB was able to manage travel and Covid.
Ontario said yes to the Jays .... but Ottawa and the 20 Watt bulb Patty Hajdu said no. more posturing ....
Maybe this time its different.

Im not sure where you call home but I am in Toronto... to date I have not seen People in hazmat suits walking the streets calling out "bring out your dead" a la the Monty Python sketch from the Holy Grail. Today .. in a city of 3 and half million..... we have a sum total of 130 people in the hospital. The Citys Stats Dashboard doesn't even bother to break down of those 130 which are in an ICU bed vs general admitting as the numbers must tell a different story than the one being told that we are close to being at deaths door in the media.

Eventually being fed to much sodium pentothal kills the victim.


The Python sketch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcbR1J_4ICg

[G__Deane]

In this particular case, she may not have had to go through too much red tape, because the US is trying to project normalcy

However, the reporter might have some more hoops to jump through when coming back north

Well our feds have multiple instances of letting in US CEO's for ribbon cuttings and other "essential" meetings so I'm sure she has the right connections for re-entrance pre-approved.

[S.R.]

Not totally up to date on this but my understanding at the moment is Canadians may be able to get into the US, the bigger hassle will be trying to get back into Canada. We're the ones who want the border closed right now.