The newest idea floating around regarding the NBA returning to its season includes games being played at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
While that could make sense now that Florida has eased stay-at-home restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a more appealing option to the NBA. That includes the season resuming, and ultimately concluding, in Las Vegas.
According to this report from Kevin Draper of The NY Times, MGM Resorts International has offered up its Vegas locations as a “bubble city” to resume the season.
Specifically, Mandalay Bay would be set up to house players, team personnel and their families. The report notes that they would be able to use all of the amenities within the posh resorts, including the restaurants and casinos.
Mandalay Bay is a perfect option in that it’s adjacent to other MGM properties on the strip and could help the NBA world remain secluded from the rest of the population.
Draper’s report notes that 24 basketball courts could be built at the convention center. Five would be used to televise games with the rest being utilized as practice facilities.
This comes with the NBA having allowed teams to open their practice facilities in states that has eased stay-at-home orders.
While Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has extended stay-at-home orders for the state, he anticipates most businesses will be open by May 15.
The Las Vegas area and Clark County has been surprisingly one of the least impacted major metropolitan regions in the United States when it comes to the pandemic. As of Saturday morning, there were only 1,156 actives cases in a county with a population of 2.3 million.
It certainly is an appealing option for the NBA.