It’s looking more and more likely that the NBA is going to start banning fans from games for the foreseeable future, as tomorrow’s game between the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets is playing in front of a crowd of no one in response to coronavirus concerns.
This will be the first game to be played this season without fans being present. Only players, coaches, and specific personnel will be allowed in the arena during the game.
The Warriors official Twitter account had this to say, “Due to escalating concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, and in consultation with the City and County of San Francisco, tomorrow night’s game vs. the Nets at Chase Center will be played without fans.”
They also announced that fan tickets will be refunded.
Playing games without fans has been an ongoing discussion in the NBA and other leagues after the recent outbreak of the coronavirus around the world. The Ivy League just recently announced the cancellation of their conference tournaments and the NCAA has banned fans from attending both men and women’s basketball tournaments.
The decision to remove fans from this game come after an order from the San Francisco Health Office prohibiting events where 1,000 or more people assemble. Other events at the Chase Center in San Francisco have been called off as well.
The league is continuing to discuss the inevitability that games will be affected for the foreseeable future. Many possibilities have been discussed on how to handle this, with some ideas being to remove fans from games, only have games played in cities that have not suffered an outbreak, or cancelling games altogether. They are prepared to suffer some big financial losses because of this, upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars.
