The National Basketball Association is engaged in “exploratory conversations” with its media partner Walt Disney about resuming its season suspend by Covid-19, the league said on Saturday.
In a statement released on the league’s Twitter account, the NBA says it wants to start the season in late July at Disney’s ESPN complex in Orlando as a “single site for an NBA campus for games, practices, and housing,” the statement said.
Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry told CNBC the NBA has a board of governors call next Friday where discussions about restarting will continue. The billionaire co-founder of Avenue Capital also suggested the league should be playing by July.
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“I think we’ll have something, hopefully within the next 6 to 8 weeks, we should be playing,” said Lasry, who appeared on CNBC’s “Halftime Report” on Friday.
Collaborating with Disney is beneficial for both parties, as ESPN would capitalize on potential content opportunities. Disney, along with Turner Sports, pays the NBA roughly $2.6 billion per year for national media rights.
Flip the Page to see the NBA’s statement:
