Name: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the league’s restart plan in Orlando
Uploaded: 2020-07-07
Duration: 15 min 9 s
Description: Players will be kept in a “bubble” for the duration of the season.

ADAM LASHINSKY: Hello, everybody. My name is Adam Lashinsky. I'm executive editor of Fortune, based in California. And I'm delighted to welcome to virtual Fortune Brainstorm Health Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA. Adam, hello. Well, the last time you and I were together was my last business trip of 2020. It was for the event-- the NBA All-Star game in Chicago. And I remember being just a tiny bit concerned that day. It was February 14, I remember, because it was Valentine's Day in Chicago. Because of the NBA's presence in China, a lot of your China personnel were there. And I had it way in the back of my head. Might any of these people have been exposed to this scary disease that hasn't touched America yet? Were you concerned that day? And if not, when did it-- when did the coronavirus hit your consciousness? ADAM SILVER: I wasn't concerned that day about our Chinese guests, but we were very concerned about the virus. In fact, our offices in Beijing and Shanghai had shut down somewhere around mid-January. And so we had been very focused on the coronavirus. And in fact, you may recall during our All-Star weekend, there were several messages that we sent out to our fans in China, particularly to those in Wuhan, about stay safe, about following protocols. I think like most Americans, we were not so focused at that point that the virus was going to have the kind of impact on the United States it did. But we were monitoring fairly closely. And as you know, roughly a month later, that's when we shut down. And essentially the only reason we shut down is, although some people were critical of us for doing it, we had started testing our players, particularly symptomatic players, a week or so earlier than that. And so we picked up a case in our league, and honestly we knew we had a problem. ADAM LASHINSKY: Yeah. Now let's shift to the present. The spotlight is on the NBA. You're attempting something very ambitious in moving your players into a bubble in Orlando for the completion of this season. Start by explaining to us who exactly you have turned to in recent weeks for medical advice to form your plan of action for this bubble. ADAM SILVER: Our primary advisor is a doctor, a virus researcher, globally renowned, who's now with Columbia University named David Ho. Interestingly enough, I first met David in the early '90s, around Magic Johnson and HIV and AIDS. He went on to be the Time Man of the Year because of his research efforts around HIV. And interestingly enough, he and I ran into each other at a Chinese New Year celebration at a Brooklyn Nets game in January. We'd kept in touch, but we hadn't seen each other for a while. And we were having a side conversation about what was happening in China. And Dr. Ho told me at that time that he was following it. He was concerned. I'd say not at the level of what we're now seeing, but it was certainly on his radar. And we agreed to talk regularly going forward at that point. So he became our primary advisor. We've also relied on Dr. Vivek Murthy, someone I met when he was the surgeon general under President Obama. And he and I had continued a regular dialogue, initially around mental health issues, interestingly enough. But then he was also someone I began talking to about this issue as well. And then as time has gone on, we've added other experts, epidemiologists, infectious disease experts, public health experts to our mix of consultants. Those have been the people who've been advising us. ADAM LASHINSKY: This is a critical week for you, obviously. The Wall Street Journal had an article that had a great line that "the league has never invested so much in hoping nothing happens." In other words, you're doing all of this testing with your players as they arrive in Orlando. And you're hoping that they all come back negative, and you go on with your plan. Sitting here today, how confident are you that this season is going to start and finish? Start again, I should say, and finish? ADAM SILVER: Let me begin with the testing we're doing now. We know we're going to get some additional positive tests based on what we've seen over the last few weeks. So before players come onto this campus-- and I'm saying campus instead of bubble, because bubble creates this sense that it's hermetically sealed. It's more a campus. People can move in and out of it. But essentially, the players, the coaches, those who need to be most protected-- because in order to do their jobs, they have to take off masks and not be physically distant. They are the most protected. But there are others, including Disney employees, who will move on and off this campus. And we began testing all our teams roughly two weeks ago. And as we reported, we had a significant number of positive cases. And I think that's more a representation of what's happening around the country. This is players none of whom-- virtually none of whom were in Florida at the time that testing began. And so we won't be surprised when they first come down to Orlando if we have some additional players who test positive. What would be most concerning is once players enter this campus and then go through our quarantine period, then if they were to test positive or we were to have any positive tests, we'd know we would have an issue. And so in terms of our level of confidence, again, when we set down this path in terms of coming back in Orlando, Florida was not experiencing case levels at the rate they are now. And Orange County, where Orlando is, was not. But on the other hand, we designed this campus environment so that we could be as protected as possible from the environment around us. So on paper and dealing with our experts, this should work, but we shall see. I'm confident based on the positive cases we're seeing from our players and the general public around the country that it will be safer on this campus than off this campus, in part because we're going to be doing daily testing. And incidentally, when our players are not playing, which is the vast majority of the time they're there, they will be observing physical distancing and wearing masks. So it's a very protected environment. But again, this virus has humbled many. And so I'm not going to express any higher level competence than we're following the protocols, and we hope it works as we designed it. ADAM LASHINSKY: Adam, what is the threshold when you talk about the protocols? So in other words, you will have positive tests among NBA players and personnel and others on site in Orlando. So you acted very quickly in March with a very small number of positive cases. You closed down the entire season. What's the threshold this time around? ADAM SILVER: Honestly, Adam, it's the right question, and I'm not sure yet. We have the ability. First of all, in terms of the positive tests I was referring to, that's when they get there. That's people who are coming potentially who we may have missed already as positive cases. We've caught a fair amount of players who are positive, and they are quarantined back in their markets now and won't be brought to Orlando until they're healthy. So it would be concerning if once they sit through our quarantine period and then were to test positive-- we would know that there's, in essence, a hole in our bubble or that our quarantine is not-- that our campus is not working in some way. So that would be very concerning. And it seems that the question you're asking is, if we got a single positive test will we shut down. The answer is likely no. I think we do have the ability to trace, of course, to try to understand where that positive case came from. We can actually analyze the virus itself and try to track if there is more than one case, if it's in essence the same virus, the same genetic variation of the virus that is passed from one player to another, or they both-- or two people on the campus have gotten it independently. So those are all things that we're looking at. Certainly, if we had any sort of significant spread at all within our campus, we would be shut down again. ADAM LASHINSKY: So thank you. And I think that's the key part of your answer, is what the definition of significant spread is. And I guess what I'm hearing you say is, you and your medical team will define "significant" when and if you have to. ADAM SILVER: Well, we are in the process of defining it now. We realize that we need to draw some lines for ourselves so we don't get caught up in it once the games begin. But as I said, we're dealing with these experts now. Part of it would be to try to understand where the cases are coming from, if they happened all at once as opposed to we got one case and then another week we got a separate case. To your earlier question, though, about what's different now from when we initially shut down, of course, when we shut down after we had a positive case, there was no large scale testing of our players. Certainly, asymptomatic players were not being tested on a regular basis. In fact, at the time, as you may recall, it was controversial that we were even testing 10 or 15 additional players. There was a seemingly big controversy around the Brooklyn Nets when they tested them because we were tracing those teams that had played against the Utah Jazz with Rudy Gobert, to the positive player who was on, and another team where there had been positive tests. So we were trying to understand the spread. And at that point in time, in mid-March, we accepted it was-- because of the limitation on testing, it did not seem appropriate to continue. In addition, when we shut down, we still had fans in our buildings. And so this is a very different moment now, a very different protocol. ADAM LASHINSKY: We all know, and you know more than you did in March. Will you personally go to Orlando? ADAM SILVER: I will. Part of the issue now is my original intent was, as I said, there are different levels of protection within our campus. The people who are most protected are our players, because again, they're taking off their masks and breathing each other's air when they play. There will be an opportunity for some people to move onto the campus, having first been tested but remaining very far away from the protected people who are participating in the games-- referees, coaches, players, and some other people. So I will go on at certain points. I'm trying to figure out my plans now because initially, of course, New York didn't require a quarantine as you went down to Florida. So I now have to deal with that issue as well. So I haven't set my exact plans yet. But I will be down there. ADAM LASHINSKY: But when you go, you'll stay away from players. Is that what I'm hearing you say? ADAM SILVER: Exactly. I'll still be tested in order to come onto the larger campus, but I will stay far away from players. ADAM LASHINSKY: I want to shift gears to mental health. We don't have a lot of time left, but the NBA has taken a rather dramatic move in allowing players to put certain social justice messages on their jerseys at the beginning of the seasons. And the list is a specific list that the NBA drew up. Will you allow-- will you expand that list? And how will you handle other matters of political commentary such as if someone wants to put a message about freedom in Hong Kong, for example? ADAM SILVER: I take issue with the word "allow" only because this list came about largely from the players in partnership with the league. And I think it was a recognition that we're living in extraordinary times right now. And what we're attempting to do by coming back in the midst of a pandemic, a recession and possibly worse, and an enormous amount of social unrest-- the players felt it was very important that they have an opportunity outside the normal boundaries of the league to express their heartfelt views on a particular issue. And those were issues around racism and social justice. And so again, rather than this notion that we allowed it, we sat down with the executive committee of the players' association. They proposed particular terms to us, and we worked through it with them that those messages would be included on their jerseys. And incidentally, I understand people could differ, but I don't view them as political messages. I view these as values-based messages, particularly around the issue of racism. It's no secret our league is-- 80% of our players are Black. And this is an issue that they're particularly focused on in this moment in time. ADAM LASHINSKY: I take your point. Are you concerned you're opening a Pandora's box now where-- these issues are important to these players now. Can there be other issues that are important to other players tomorrow? ADAM SILVER: Of course, but I think, like, with all slippery slope arguments. I think the response is we've drawn lines, and this is what we're focused on right now. ADAM LASHINSKY: Can you-- last question. I heard the other day you put a price tag on the $40 million on the lost revenue in China as a result of not having your games broadcast there. Can you put a price tag on lost revenues for the coronavirus pandemic in the United States this season? ADAM SILVER: I'm not certain yet. By the way, the number in China-- I recall what I said, I think not more than or something like that. So it's still not clear exactly what our losses will be in China. In terms of the coronavirus, depending what happens this summer, that'll have a big impact on what our ultimate revenues are for the season. No matter what, the losses will be significant. And as you might imagine, creating this campus environment down in Orlando, bringing 22 teams there, keeping them there potentially for months, is enormously expensive and not a model that could continue to operate. And I think it was a recognition that these are extraordinary times. And it would be meaningful if we could find a way to play NBA basketball under these circumstances. So from a net standpoint, we will lose a lot of money this season. I think there's no question about it. ADAM LASHINSKY: Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA, thank you for being here. Good luck to the league and especially for the health and safety of everybody associated with the league. Thank you again. 

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the league’s restart plan in Orlando

Health

Players will be kept in a “bubble” for the season.

Adam Silver on the NBA's restart plan in Orlando

Players will be kept in a “bubble” for the duration of the season.