LAS VEGAS - Just days before NBA's hiatus reaches two months, MGM Resorts International pitched a proposal to the league to finish the COVID-19-halted season on courts inside Las Vegas convention centers.k
According to a source, the plan revolves around the Las Vegas Strip, where players along with their families and other essential staff will be staying and quarantined in MGM hotels, where it will also serve as practice facilities and competing at the same court.
Aside from the players, broadcasters would have also access to the usual resort facilities while in the protected area under MGM's plan, according to the MGM management, they reserve 13 of their Vegas resort properties for the possible partnership.
The plan also includes the conversion of MGM convention centers into 24 basketball courts wherein five of them will be equipped with cameras to allow television coverage, while players would reside in connected or nearby hotels to avoid any possible outside contact.
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Before the proposal was pitched, the basketball league already eyeing a similar quarantined area in Orlando which involves courts and hotels in private Disney World areas.
NBA taking a pause due to COVID-19
After Utah Jazz's center Rudy Gobert tested positive with coronavirus and became the first NBA player to be infected with COVID-19, the NBA quickly postponed its season in March and just a week after several players also tested positive with coronavirus including Brooklyn nets superstar Kevin Durant and Gobert's teammate Donovan Mitchell who.
But almost two months after the postponement, no plan was released for a possible return, when they can resume games, and even a possible timetable for league's comeback is not available causing players and fans to panic.
The small step toward the possible reopening happened after the league announced that starting Friday they will allow players to conduct individual workouts at team facilities but it is only applicable in areas where stay-at-home laws permit.
Spectators at games will be out in the conversation according to some sources, as the league only focuses on a one-site bubble where players will live and play and it will only be possible if COVID-19 test kits are already available in sufficient numbers for public consumption and the NBA has enough test kits for everyone involved in their operations.
The whole MGM Vegas plan was centered at The Mandalay Bay resort where it has 4,700 rooms which are available over three connected hotels as it will serve as the central hub of the whole Vegas plan.
To ensure the isolation, an enclosed walkway would connect the Luxor, where housekeepers and caterers will be residing.
The plan for some experts is feasible as the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA also plays at Mandalay Bay.
After months of absence of training, players are expected to need a training camp not less than three weeks in order to be in good shape for the upcoming games, which could cover the entire final month of the new season and it also includes two months of playoff contests.
But despite the plans pitched to save the NBA season, it is still uncertain as the whole United States is still suffering from COVID-19.
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