By Freddie Fine
Across the country, sports seasons have been halted, altered, and adapted to best operate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many major leagues have experienced some form of outbreak and have had to change courses in order to adapt to them, some better than others.
The NFL ran a tight schedule that, during its regular season, didn’t have much space for wiggle room when teams such as the Ravens and Titans had games postponed or pushed back in order for players to safely quarantine. Throughout the season, protocols have changed to become safer, whether that’s contract tracing, new in-game and post-game requirements, and safety requirements for fans attending games. Every day, the NFL tests players and staff except on a gameday, ensuring the players safety and making it as easy as possible to identify cases. Every week, they come out with a report on all the tests administered and how many positive cases there were. Here is one report for the first three months of the season:
During these dates, the NFL had a positive rate of less than .5%. This was a common theme throughout the season, and although some teams had to have many players quarantined, this just ensured no more players were spreading it to one another. The NFL did an astounding job handling COVID-19 during the regular season, the playoffs, and have put in more precautions for the upcoming combine and draft.
The NBA, on the other hand, has had larger struggles with the pandemic. Being an indoor sport, COVID-19 spreading between teams has been much more common than in the NFL. They conduct daily rapid tests, however, in about a month since the first game, 16 games have been postponed, with the Washington Wizards missing a week’s worth of games. Despite this struggle, the NBA is working to install more protocols. Here is their press release:
The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) today announced an agreement on additional measures to supplement the current Health and Safety Protocols governing the 2020-21 season.
In response to the surge of COVID-19 cases across the country and an uptick among NBA teams requiring potential player quarantines, the following measures will take effect immediately:
- Activities Outside the Team Environment: For at least the next two weeks, players and team staff are required to remain at their residence (when the team is in its home market) at all times except to attend team-related activities at the team facility or arena, exercise outside, or perform essential activities, or as a result of extraordinary circumstances. Away-from-work interactions are limited to those with household members, family and any personal staff working regularly in the home. When on the road, players and team staff are prohibited from leaving their hotel (other than for team activities or emergencies) or interacting with non-team guests at the hotel.
- Meetings: For at least the next two weeks, any pre-game meeting in the locker room is limited to no more than 10 minutes in duration and all attendees must wear a facemask. All other meetings involving players and team staff must continue to occur on the court, in a league-approved space, or at the arena in a room large enough to provide for at least 6 feet of distance between individuals. Meeting attendees must continue to wear facemasks at all times.
- On the Road: For team flights, teams must create a seating plan on planes so that players whose assigned seats are closest to each other on the bench for games are also closest to each other on the team plane. All treatment sessions at a hotel, such as massages and physical therapy, must occur in a ballroom or other large open space, with at least 12 feet between individual stations. Facemasks and face shields are required for all individuals during such sessions.
- Game Day: Players are prohibited from arriving at the arena more than three hours before tip-off. During the pre- and post-game periods, players must limit interactions to elbow or fist bumps, avoid extended socializing and maintain 6 feet of distance as much as possible.
- Facemasks: All players must wear facemasks on the bench at all times. Upon exiting the game, and prior to returning to the bench, players can sit in “cool down chairs,” arranged at least 12 feet from the bench with each chair 6 feet apart, where facemasks are not required. Once a player has cooled down, he must return to his assigned seat on the bench and wear a facemask until he enters the game again. Players must always wear facemasks in the locker room, during strength and conditioning activities and when traveling with anyone other than a household member. Coaches and other team staff must wear facemasks at all times during games.
- Testing: Any individual who regularly visits the interior of the home of a player or team staff member for a professional purpose must undergo COVID-19 testing twice per week. For any team with a positive player case or high-risk staff member case, the NBA may require players and team staff to undergo five consecutive days of twice-per-day, lab-based testing, in addition to daily point-of-care testing.
The league’s Health and Safety Protocols may be additionally amended during the season as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic evolves.
Installing more protocols is an important step to ensuring player’s safety and shows an ability to adapt, just like the NFL had to do. Both leagues have set a precedent for being able to handle COVID-19 to the best of their abilities, something that smaller leagues, colleges, and high schools can use to help create a league as safe as possible for their players. However, that’s not to say that following the NBA’s guidelines can work for all scenarios, such as LREI having a winter sports season. Meltzer said, “Personally I don’t think it’s worth it (to have a season). It’s easier to control people who are under contract and have league mandated rules than it is to control high school students. They’re being paid to do this, the workers at the stadium are being paid to do this. The NBA being out is a big hit on the income which isn’t the case for a high school student.”
Recently, Adam Silver, the NBA’s commissioner, has called for a potential vaccination of all the NBA players to set precedent in the community, showing people that the vaccine is safe through allowing all players to receive it. This is another way the NBA is using its influence in order to help set a precedent, and make a larger change in the world. However, not everyone believes the NBA should receive the vaccine, part of the reason why they haven’t yet. Meltzer said, “I think it’s a complicated issue because on one hand, it’s good to set that example and having celebrities getting vaccinated is a good thing. On the other hand, they are healthy 20-30 year olds in peak physical condition and it’s kind of problematic that they are getting to skip the line for the COVID vaccination.”
Overall, there is a lot of hope from fans and players alike that the NBA season, as well as high school and collegiate level sports, can continue safely or begin safely.