The NBA will relocate to Walt Disney World next month, where 22 teams are set to finish the season. The games will start at the Wide World of Sports complex on July 31. Players, their families, and team staffs will be quarantined to a few hotels and likely will not be allowed to visit the theme parks, which will have re-opened by that time.
Players and coaches knew from the moment this plan started being discussed that it would require quarantine. Reporters probably suspected the same would be true for them, although that is just becoming public knowledge.
The Daily Beast obtained a memo from The Professional Basketball Writers Association that says a select group of reporters will have to agree to be quarantined in the Most Magical Place on Earth for up to 3 and a half months if they want to cover the remainder of the NBA season. If any of those reporters exit the quarantine, there will be no option for them to re-enter.
Robert Silverman of The Daily Beast cites an email sent by PBWA President Josh Robbins titled “an off-the-record communication not to be reported on in any form,” so good job by Robbins and shame on whoever leaked it to him, I guess.
In the email, Robbins writes that the press will be divided into “two tiers.” A smaller first tier “will have the most access, but will work under far greater restrictions than we are used to under normal conditions.” This will be the group that cannot re-enter if they break quarantine.
One interesting thing to note in Robbins’s memo is that the price is going to be high for anyone that wants to cover the games. The NBA will feed the press corps in the first tier, but housing will not be covered by the league nor by Walt Disney World. Robbins acknowledges that it is “cost-prohibitive for most outlets” and notes that is why a second tier exists.
Reporters in the second tier would be allowed to attend the games in person. They would be prohibited from having face-to-face interactions with any players, staff, or coaches. They also would not be allowed to venture onto the Wide World of Sports campus or larger resort.
Robbins acknowledges that many smaller outlets will be shut out from first tier access, if not from the proceedings entirely. He says that he is still negotiating with the NBA for some kind of alternative access, “but this is a uniquely challenging situation. The league’s primary primary mandate is to minimize the risk of any players or team personnel contracting the virus.”
