When it comes to the NBA’s plan to resume the 2019-20 season, we know where we’re headed — to Walt Disney World; their ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, to be specific.
But what do we actually know about the location?
Those among us with family playing youth sports for any length of time in the state of Florida may have already seen the sprawling, 220 acre compound, or at least a part of it.
It’s equipped to handle hordes of games in multiple sports, simultaneously if need be. It has fields or facilities for baseball, competitive cheering, lacrosse, soccer, softball and volleyball in addition to basketball, and for the sport we’re focused on, it can do so in abundance.
It possesses three arenas which can activate as many as 20 courts, and can host two NBA games at once while retaining a separate area for practices.
The sheer size of the grounds available to the league and players is truly hard to convey, even in pictures.
Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressThat there are 25 Disney-owned hotels in the immediate area to house players, their families and coaching and other staff is of course a boon as well, but the media-ready arenas are another huge sell.
ESPN — owned by Disney — has an on-site, 2,500-square foot broadcast center with eight editing bays for seamless delivery of the entertainment product around the world.
“The facilities are absolutely mind-boggling,” related Miami basketball head coach Jim Larrañaga — father of Celtics assistant Jay — said (via the Miami Herald’s Michelle Kauffman).
“The entire complex, no matter what sport you play, the facilities are beautiful and exquisite. For the NBA, the two facilities that host events for AAU and national championships are fantastic. I am sure they’ll have NBA floors, baskets, NBA everything. So, if you’re watching it on TV, it will look like an NBA game.”
Except of course for the usual audiences, though Larrañaga thinks even this is something the wizards at the Magic Kingdom might be able to address.
“I think they can custom make what the stands look like whether they hang tarps or use cardboard people in the seats, playing the music,” he added. “Disney has everything.”
While that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, it does appear the ‘Orlando bubble’ site is about as ideal a location as could be imagined for a major professional sports league trying to finish its season under such circumstances can get.
And about a month from now, we’ll start getting our first look at how it’ll play out in real llife.
