NBA says it is talking with Disney about resuming season

NBA is in talks with Walt Disney Company on a single-site scenario for a resumption of play in Central Florida in late July, clearest sign yet that league believes season can continue amid coronavirus pandemic.

National Basketball Players Association is also part of talks with Disney. Games would be held at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, a massive campus on Disney property near Orlando.

NBA spokesman Mike Bass said conversations were still “exploratory,” and that site would be used t only for games but for practices and housing as well.

“Our priority continues to be health and safety of all involved, and we are working with public health experts and government officials on a comprehensive set of guidelines to ensure that appropriate medical protocols and protections are in place,” Bass said.

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a 255-acre campus with multiple arenas that could host games simultaneously and has been home to, among or things, Jr. NBA World Championship in recent years. ESPN is primarily owned by Disney, one of NBA’s brocast partners.

won’t be an issue, even if Major League Soccer — which is also in talks to resume its season at Disney — is re at same time as NBA. entire Disney complex is roughly 40 square miles, with nearly 24,000 hotel rooms owned or operated by Disney within campus.

NBA suspended its season March 11, becoming first of U.S. major pro leagues to do so after it became kwn that All-Star center Rudy Gobert of Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19. list of NBA players who were kwn to test positive eventually grew to 10 — t all were identified — and Commissioner am Silver said last month that actual total was even higher.

But league has been working on countless return-to-play scenarios for several weeks, all with caveat that testing would be an integral part of any resumption of season. Teams have been allowed to welcome players back to ir training facilities for voluntary sessions since May 8, and more than half of league’s franchises have taken vant of that opportunity.

next steps would likely include a loosening of restrictions for those voluntary workouts — more than four players are currently allowed inside any facility at a time — and n a plan for when training camps could open. If league plans to resume play in late July, n camps conceivably could open around start of that month.