The stars of the National Basketball Association are coming to Walt Disney World to finish their 2019-20 season, and they’re taking their health and safety seriously.
According to Senior NBA analyst for The Athletic and sports network Stadium Shams Charania, the National Basketball Players Association, the league’s players’ union, has told players participating in the resumed season that it is mandatory to stay on the resort grounds.
But what about the theme parks, which will reopen to guests just days after teams are allowed to begin practicing at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex? According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, players and their families quarantining at the resort hotels will not be allowed to enter the parks in an effort to prevent any possible spread of COVID-19.
So while it might be cool to imagine the Milwaukee Bucks or Brooklyn Nets getting to ride Space Mountain between games, that will have to wait for another time.
But I bet they can visit the NBA experience!
They would be the first.
No, They will not be permitted off of their resort property, which will have heavy security.
Why would they have to quarantine if they’re not infected? Using that logic, NO guests should be allowed entry. They have as much risk to get people sick as NBA players.
I think you have it backwards. They aren’t allowed into the parks, not by Disney, but by their union to try and avoid any of the players contracting the coronavirus and risking giving it to enough teammates that they have to shut down again and lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue! This restriction is not for the safety of the general public.
My guess is they are worried about their players staying healthy and not catching the virus from other guests.
Bingo.
It would change the entire playoffs, and possibly who wins the Championship if certain star players were to all of a sudden miss games.
Probably because if an NBA players (or players) gets sick it jeopardizes the entire playoff tournament and would cost them and their teammates millions of dollars, not to mention hundreds of millions in losses to the NBA and ESPN.
Jimmy Smith gets sick at WDW doesn’t have nearly that level of economic damage.
If players want to play and earn their giant paychecks they need to protect the league’s bottom line too. If an average guest could grind their employer’s business to a halt by getting sick, they’d be quarantined away from the WDW parks as well.
Remember that the NBA shut down originally as soon as one player tested positive. The agreement may well be that no one leaves the ground of Coronado Springs except for pre-planned, pre-approved events, so as not to bring the virus back into their bubble.
It is to protect the players from getting infected by others at the parks. They are creating a bubble to protect the NBA, they want to minimize the risk of one of players getting COVID from others.