2020 NBA Bubble
The 2020 NBA Bubble was the bio-secure bubble at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, that was created by the National Basketball Association to protect its players from the COVID-19 pandemic during the final eight games of the 2019–20 regular season and throughout the 2020 NBA playoffs. 22 out of the 30 NBA teams were invited to participate with games being held behind closed doors at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and the teams staying at makeshift Disney World hotels.
The bubble was a $190 million investment by the NBA to protect its 2019–20 season, which was initially suspended by the pandemic on March 11, 2020. The bubble recouped an estimated $1.5 billion in revenue. In June, the NBA approved the plan to resume the season at Disney World, inviting the 22 teams that were within six games of a playoff spot when the season was suspended. The plan initially received a mixed reaction from players and coaches.
After playing three exhibition scrimmages inside the bubble in late July, the invited teams played eight additional regular season games to determine playoff seeding. The playoffs began on August 17, and the NBA Finals began on September 30. During the playoffs, there were additional delays to the season prompted by activism related to the shooting of Jacob Blake. The season ended on October 11 when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in six games. From the start of the resumed 2019–20 season until the end of the NBA Finals, the NBA ended with no recorded cases of COVID-19 for the teams participating in the bubble.
The NBA Bubble in some form has been made into a contingency plan for the NBA in future pandemics or major disease outbreaks.
Suspension of the season
On March 11, 2020, the NBA announced the suspension of the 2019–20 season following Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19 hours before the Jazz road game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. On June 4, the NBA Board of Governors approved 29–1 resuming the 2019–20 season in Orlando, Florida at Walt Disney World, after prior consideration of Las Vegas and Houston as potential spots. On June 5, the National Basketball Players Association approved negotiations with the NBA.Under normal circumstances, the New York Knicks' home arena Madison Square Garden would have lost its New York City tax exemptions as soon as the team started playing home games in the bubble, but the tax agreement includes an act of God clause.
Resumption of the season
On June 17, 2020, the NBA released a medical protocol to be used during the season restart in the bubble to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches, officials, and staff. This protocol included regular testing for COVID-19 prior to and throughout the season restart, wearing a face covering or mask, and physical distancing to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 from occurring. Also, players and coaches deemed "high-risk individuals" by their team, or players who had already suffered season-ending injuries prior to season suspension, would not be permitted to play and would also not lose any salary. Any player medically cleared could also decline to participate but would lose their corresponding paychecks.The protocol outlined six phases to ensure a smooth transition into the bubble and a successful end to the season:
- Phase 1 of the plan ran from June 16 to 22, consisting of players traveling back to the home cities of their respective teams.
- In Phase 2 from June 23 to 30, COVID-19 tests began being administered to players every other day.
- In Phase 3 from July 1 to 11, mandatory individual workouts were conducted at team facilities, but group workouts were prohibited.
- Phase 4 was from July 7 to 21, consisting of the teams traveling to Disney World and conducting practices. Any player who tested positive in the previous phases could not travel until being medically cleared to do so. Once teams arrived in Orlando, players and staff were isolated in their rooms, required to pass two polymerase chain reaction tests 24 hours apart before being let out of this quarantine. Players and staff were regularly tested for COVID-19 afterwards throughout the season. A player who tested positive was isolated and re-tested in case of a false positive; if COVID-19 was definitely confirmed, he was quarantined for at least 14 days to recover. Players and staff were not permitted into another's room, nor were they able to socialize with players on other teams staying at a different hotel building. They had access to food and recreational activities within their hotel's bubble, but they had to wear masks indoors except when eating. Anybody who left the bubble without prior approval had to be quarantined for at least 10 days.
- During Phase 5 from July 22 to 29, teams played three scrimmages against the other teams staying at the same hotel.
- During Phase 6, as the regular season seeding games and playoffs were underway and teams began to be eliminated from contention, players and staff on those clubs had to pass one final COVID-19 test before they could leave Disney World.
On July 30, the season resumed as planned, with the Utah Jazz defeating the New Orleans Pelicans and the Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Los Angeles Clippers. The games were played across three Disney venues at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex: the HP Field House, the Visa Athletic Center and The AdventHealth Arena.
The NBA launched an advertising campaign, "It's a Whole New Game", to promote the resumption.
Proposal for a second bubble
A second bubble to be hosted in Chicago was briefly considered by the NBA for the eight teams not invited to the bubble so they would also have some sort of competitive play instead of merely sitting out the entire time from March 2020 to the start of the 2020–21 season in December, referred to as the "Delete Eight", but ultimately the plan fell through. Although it was reported that the eight teams would have an opportunity to join the NBA Bubble in Orlando following the playoffs, this also did not work out.On August 20, 2020, the NBA and NBPA announced an agreement where the eight teams could have voluntary group workouts at their respective practice facilities from September 4 to October 10.
Rules
The NBA produced a rule book of more than 100 pages to protect its players in an attempt to salvage the remainder of the season. Rules included isolation periods, testing requirements, and the potential for financial penalties. Any players subject to isolation periods when a game was scheduled had to forego participating in the game to complete their isolation. The NBA had a hotline allowing people to anonymously report players who broke the rules of the bubble, which players referred to as the "snitch hotline". Players always had to wear masks, with eating and exercise being exceptions. Additionally, staff working at these facilities had to wear masks and gloves at all times, though the staff were not required to quarantine.Players were not required to join the bubble, and at least ten players declined to join their teams, including Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving and Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley. Irving declined to participate due to his desire to focus on ongoing social justice issues, while Bradley opted out due to his six-year-old son battling an respiratory illness. Despite his withdrawal, Bradley still was awarded an NBA championship ring due to the Lakers winning the title. Guests were not allowed, and all food was prepared within the bubble. Only four players were cited for violating the rules of the bubble: Lou Williams, Richaun Holmes, Bruno Caboclo, and Danuel House.
Players were allowed to use many of the Disney facilities, such as pools, golf courses, bicycles, gaming areas, barbers, bowling, ping pong, and spa services. RFID-enabled MagicBands, which are normally used at Walt Disney World for hotel keys and other admissions and personalization features at theme park attractions, were utilized as a check-in and contact tracing mechanism, and could be used to restrict access to practice facilities and courts if one had not completed a daily health monitoring review.
Impact on media production
National broadcaster ESPN, in partnership with the NBA and the league's other broadcaster TNT, set up a 100-plus camera infrastructure surrounding the three arenas being used at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The national broadcasts also had additional cameras to provide new angles, including a "rail cam" at the side of the court, and free-throw line cameras. ESPN and Turner production staff and some on-air hosts were present inside the "bubble". ESPN and Turner had many announcers, play-by-play, color, and other commentators physically present to call bubble games. For regional broadcasters, live feeds were fed to their respective studio for calling and broadcasting.While most ESPN and Turner announcers were in the bubble, 79-year-old Turner play-by-play commentator Marv Albert and 87-year-old ESPN color commentator Hubie Brown declined to participate citing their advanced ages as potential risks for severe illness from COVID-19.
Player mindset during the Bubble
Several players including, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, had some mental problems due to not having family in the bubble. There was a total of 93 days in the bubble, and star LeBron James struggled to enjoy the off court activities in the bubble due to lack of family life. He quotes that viewers "don't quite understand the mindset" you had to be in to truly understand what happened in the Bubble.However, there are several players that also enjoyed the bubble lifestyle. Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams quoted that it was impossible to complain when it was in a "resort." Devin Booker is another player who seemed to respond positively to the bubble lifestyle. Going into it, the superstar's team was projected to lose most of their games. However, led by Booker, the Phoenix Suns went a perfect 8–0 in the bubble.