Skip to main content

Featured Post

Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Uncharted territory: as NBA suspends season and college tournament at Barclays canceled (updated), what's next with venues?

It's a little surreal--or, rather, something we will be getting used to. As coronavirus concerns ramped up, NBA teams and cities made a decision that went halfway:
But that plan was upended when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the virus and his game was postponed, just before tipoff, and the entire NBA season was put on pause:
There's nothing on the Brooklyn Nets' web site as of now--the home page is hawking tickets for next year, with an image of suited-up Kevin Durant--currently under rehab--but an announcement on the Barclays Center's home page states, ATLANTIC 10 MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TO CONTINUE WITHOUT SPECTATORS:
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Atlantic 10 Conference announced tonight that the 2020 Men’s Basketball Championship at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY., will be played without fans and spectators for its remaining games.
Beginning tomorrow, all remaining contests in the championship will be restricted to teams, network television, working media, essential personnel, and team affiliated families/guests. First round games were played today (Wednesday, March 11) at Barclays Center, with George Mason defeating Saint Joseph’s 77-70, and Fordham topping George Washington 72-52.
Update: now it's canceled:
Mar 12, 2020
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The 2020 Atlantic 10 Conference Championship at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. has been cancelled, as announced today by Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade.
“The A-10 has made a decision to discontinue play as a result of the Covid-19 virus. Given the rapid spread of the virus, this decision was supported by the Athletic Directors and Presidents’ Council. These are uncertain times for sure, and we feel tremendous empathy for the student-athletes who will not have the opportunity to finish competing. However, the welfare of the student-athletes and the public is of utmost importance.”
Rhode Island Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn, Chair of the Atlantic 10 Athletic Directors:
“The Athletic Directors support this decision. Our top priority will always be the health and safety of our student-athletes and fans as a group. We’re all in agreement that this was the best decision during a very difficult time. I want to thank Commissioner McGlade, the Presidents’ Council and the Athletic Directors for their leadership during this challenging process.
No guidance regarding other events at the arena is proposed; the arena is, for now, proceeding as normal:
That question lingers, of course.

It's a moving target. As Mike Vaccaro wrote in the New York Post:
And now, officially, everything is on the table for American sport, which has spent the past few days trying to figure out what’s appropriate in a time of global concern
What next?

The Daily News, in an editorial today headlined The city and state are canceling some gatherings, not others. What are the standards?, wrote:
Rather than let 2 million people, tightly packed, potentially speed the spread of the coronavirus, the St. Patrick’s Day parade has been postponed. Exercising the same caution, Gov. Cuomo announced CUNY and SUNY classes will meet online.
By what logical justification can New York continue to have 250,000 people per week attend Broadway shows, or 20,000 people fill MSG and Barclays Center on a regular basis? Someone please explain.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has suggested that Broadway might continue, with reduced attendance allowing people to keep their distance. (He cited Italy, but I thought everything but food stores and pharmacies is shut down.) But, as Neil deMause wrote, others are going farther:
Washington, D.C., and the entire state of California became the latest places to call for banning large gatherings (defined as more than 1,000 people and more than 250 people, respectively) as social distancing measures; and concerts large and small and TV productions and pretty much anything else you can think of are being shut down left and right
New York Magazine critic Justin Davidson argues for shutting everything down:
One response was that concerts and performances should be live-streamed, for pay. In The Atlantic, Yascha Mounk argues for shutting everything down:
Many unknowns

There are huge unknowns, of course, about people's health and the health care response; the financial fragility that many people face; and the familial/local/societal fault lines caused by this unplanned experiment.

How and when will cities, and places for large gatherings, return to normal? And will there be, as after 9/11, a new normal?

Comments