Problems with playing 82 games between December and April (in both NBA and NHL)

[Big Z 1990]

The NBA and NHL have decided to start their next seasons in December.

Both want to play 82 games between December and April.

However, there are major issues with those plans.

Players would be forced to work harder, and potentially play at least 3-4 days in a row.

Basketball and hockey are not baseball.

So, playing 82 games on a shortened timeframe would be really bad for the players. And I can't see the approval of separate rosters for each team to be used in alternating games in either league.

The NBA moved up its start date a few years ago while keeping the end date the same to reduce back-to-backs.

Now the leagues want to double down on them? I can't see players in either league agreeing to that.

The NBA was wise to shorten their season when they were forced to start 2011-12 in December.

And it's likely bubbles will be required in both leagues for next season. For the NBA, one bubble for Eastern teams, one for Western teams.

For the NHL, bubbles based on 4 different regional groupings, all of them set up in Canada:

Eastern - All American teams in Eastern Conference except Columbus and Detroit
Central - All American teams in Central Time Zone plus Columbus and Detroit
Western - All American teams in Mountain and Pacific Time Zones
Canadian - All Canadian teams

Under these conditions I don't see players agreeing to play 82 games in such a short timespan.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Guess I assumed they'd permanently move the NBA to a December start time. To me that would make more sense and have the timeline run pretty similar to now. They can avoid conflicting with the NFL by running earlier primetime matchups like they are now and avoiding Sunday in particular as best they can.


End of the day though I'd think most NBA fans would watch the finals versus a random NFL game

 

[trojanfan12]

Guess I assumed they'd permanently move the NBA to a December start time. To me that would make more sense and have the timeline run pretty similar to now. They can avoid conflicting with the NFL by running earlier primetime matchups like they are now and avoiding Sunday in particular as best they can.


End of the day though I'd think most NBA fans would watch the finals versus a random NFL game

Imo, going to a season that starts in December and ends in late July or early August would be a smart move.

They wouldn't have near as much direct competition with the NFL or college football. The playoffs would only be competing with regular season "dog days" baseball.

 

[True Lakers Fan]

Imo, going to a season that starts in December and ends in late July or early August would be a smart move.

They wouldn't have near as much direct competition with the NFL or college football. The playoffs would only be competing with regular season "dog days" baseball.

I agree, but they dont care about what we think

That being said m, From December through April is no as bad as it sounds. Its Only one month late. It might be unreasonable to believe there will be no more pandemic though. Personaly take the season to May 30th and then start the play offs

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Imo, going to a season that starts in December and ends in late July or early August would be a smart move.

They wouldn't have near as much direct competition with the NFL or college football. The playoffs would only be competing with regular season "dog days" baseball.

Yep now that I think of it that would line up perfectly

I'm sure much of the issue is the players enjoying summers with the family. My guess.

 

[trojanfan12]

Yep now that I think of it that would line up perfectly

I'm sure much of the issue is the players enjoying summers with the family. My guess.

Yeah, can't really blame them for that one. NFL players start their training camp part way through the summer. MLB is in the middle of it's season.

The NBA and NHL get the whole summer with their families. That would be tough to give up.

 

[trojanfan12]

Well. when they will be started a huge crow will go on because of COVID 19, everyone is stuck up on their homes so the game will be more interesting click here for more information about basketball and hoops

If you don't have cheap authentic jerseys...fuck off.

 

[shopson67]

No need for 82. Shorten the season to a reasonable number. Home and away against everyone, twice against division opponents. 66 games. (NBA)

 

[Stakesarehigh]

No need for 82. Shorten the season to a reasonable number.

Truly they could shorten the season and not lose the majority of their tv dollars. Agreed it would make more sense to play 50-60 next year

 

[trojanfan12]

It depends. If the intention is to start the NBA season in December from next season on, then play the 82 and have the season end in late August or early September.

It would require the players to give up their summer, but would be better for the league financially, imo.

If not, then maybe do a 60ish game season. Or they may be able to get through 82, but there would be more back to backs. Perhaps the players association would agree to more back to backs for 1 season?

Back in the day, they used to play back to back to back. If memory serves, the 1972 Lakers had 3 or 4 back to back to back situations during their 33 game win streak.

 

[thunderc]

If you start dec1 instead of nov 1 then there is no reason for the regular season to run past May 15.

 

[trojanfan12]

If you start dec1 instead of nov 1 then there is no reason for the regular season to run past May 15.

Yeah, I just looked at the 2018-19 season and the p[layoffs started on April 13th and ended June 13. So yeah, it would basically only be pushing the season back 1 month.

 

[MaximumSam]

The NBA has lost a lot of casual fans, IMO because of the excessive amount of games. Very rarely does a game have any sort of stakes, both in the regular season and the playoffs.

 

[tlance]

The NBA has lost a lot of casual fans, IMO because of the excessive amount of games. Very rarely does a game have any sort of stakes, both in the regular season and the playoffs.

Did you just say playoff games rarely have any sort of stakes?

Cmon man.

 

[DJ]

Guess I assumed they'd permanently move the NBA to a December start time. To me that would make more sense and have the timeline run pretty similar to now. They can avoid conflicting with the NFL by running earlier primetime matchups like they are now and avoiding Sunday in particular as best they can.


End of the day though I'd think most NBA fans would watch the finals versus a random NFL game

This.

 

[DJ]

Silver is saying Jan could be the start of the 2020-2021 season.

 

[trojanfan12]

The NBA has lost a lot of casual fans, IMO because of the excessive amount of games. Very rarely does a game have any sort of stakes, both in the regular season and the playoffs.

lol

I love it when a noob comes in and shows they have no clue what they're talking about right away.

It saves me the time and trouble of taking any of their posts seriously.

So thanks.

 

[MaximumSam]

Did you just say playoff games rarely have any sort of stakes?

Cmon man.

Yes. Single elimination tournaments have high stakes. If you lose once, you're done. The NBA can have a team loose 12 times in the playoffs and still win a championship. So each game has pretty low stakes.

 

[MaximumSam]

lol

I love it when a noob comes in and shows they have no clue what they're talking about right away.

It saves me the time and trouble of taking any of their posts seriously.

So thanks.

Your welcome. Noobs forever.

 

[shopson67]

Yes. Single elimination tournaments have high stakes. If you lose once, you're done. The NBA can have a team loose 12 times in the playoffs and still win a championship. So each game has pretty low stakes.

The only reasons for single elimination tournaments is the inability to play more than one game per week per team (football) and the sheer magnitude of teams involved (NCAA tournament). You also severely limit the profit made on said tournament. A single elimination NBA tournament would be over in 9 days (15 games total) and would sacrifice millions in potential revenue.