Should the NBA Change Its Schedule Permanently?
The NBA is still trying to figure out how to resume it's pandemic-interrupted season, and is currently thinking of returning at some point in July and resuming the season as normal. But how could this impact future NBA seasons? Should the NBA alter its schedule permanently?
Read the full video transcript:
Robin Lundberg: The NBA is, of course, looking at resuming its season at the end of July with a schedule that could take the NBA finals into October. For more, I'm joined by our Ben Pickman and the fantasy exec Corey Parson. Corey, I've seen arguments that this could be an argument for the calendar to change overall. Do you think the NBA should change its calendar?
Corey Parson: I think the NBA should change his calendar mainly to get to less games. I think that would be very critical for them to do. These long, regular seasons are something that really draws and bores sports fans out. But the bottom line is the matter is this. Honestly speaking, I think the NBA can change its schedule and do whatever they want. People are very afraid of going up against the big bad NFL. I think the NBA is just the right spot to do it. The NBA is entertainment, its the best brand, the best form of entertainment. Adam Silver, like I said before, one of the sharpest guys in sports, I think I trust him to put a plan together and the NBA. I would go for it. Taking on the big bad NFL. So there you go. They make you play these games whenever they want. But I think the shorter season starting in mid-December is the way to go.
Robin Lundberg: Ben, to Corey's point. There have been some questions about this maybe falling into the NFL schedule, but you could schedule the league around Sundays.
Ben Pickman: Yeah, I mean, I think the NBA definitely is going to have to reexamine how their schedule moves going forward. And we know they've had conversations before the Coronavirus pandemic about shortening the year to potentially 70 or 72 games. Now, I think the mid-December start is pretty smart, but I think there are some questions, namely March Madness, right already in the middle of the NBA season. We tend as viewers to go to college basketball and focus on the tournament for two or three weeks. And so what does that do for the NBA season if those are games now 40, 50 and 60 instead of the tail end of the NBA calendar? I think one other point of consideration is when does the NBA season then end? Right. You have Olympic basketball next year or supposedly Olympic basketball next year. And so you don't want the NBA season to end in, say, late July or early August because that bleeds too much into the Olympics and could interrupt that tournament and tournaments going forward. And so I think that's another big question that they're going to have to tackle if the season is moved to December and if it is not shortened like we think it should be.
Robin Lundberg: Yeah, that's certainly a valid point, because all things considered, you know, if I could remove that aspect of it, I would say that this season should go from like Christmas to August. That way you have the entire sports world on the NBA finals and you're off-court stuff is happening during NFL. So you're not competing with your viewers. You're just competing for conversation. Appreciate the conversation as always, guys.
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