NBA: Teams should get plan in place if virus keeps fans away

Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks falls in to the crowd during their game against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on January 10, 2020 in Sacramento, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP

NEW YORK — The NBA told its teams Friday that they should be developing processes in case it becomes necessary to play games without fans or media because of the coronavirus crisis.

The league sent a memo detailing potential actions teams could need to take “if it were to become necessary to play a game with only essential staff present.”

The memo, obtained by The Associated Press, says teams should identify which team and arena people would be necessary to conduct games, and be able to communicate quickly with non-essential staff, as well as ticket holders and corporate partners.

Teams should also be prepared “for the possibility of implementing temperature checks on players, team staff, referees, and anyone else who is essential to conducting such a game in the team’s arena.”

Contents of the memo were first reported by The Athletic.

The letter also says teams should plan for scenarios in which media could attend games under revised media policies.

The league had already sent a memo to teams this week offering 10 recommendations to players with hopes of decreasing risks of getting the virus — among them, not taking items such as pens, markers, balls and jerseys from autograph seekers.

An NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament game on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, was played in an empty gym Friday in what was believed to be the first U.S. sports event held without fans because of the coronavirus, though an NCAA COVID-19 advisory panel said it is “not recommending cancellation or public spacing of athletic and related events scheduled to occur in public spaces across the United States.”