NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last Friday that the league was not in a position to resume the 2019-20 season, leaving fans guessing as to when they can expect games to return.
Ed Desser, president of Desser Media and a former league executive, said holding games without fans is still "the most likely thing to happen" but noted that the people shouldn't underestimate how much coordination that would require.
"Even playing without fans is not a trivial undertaking," he told Cheddar. "You still need to get maybe 1,000 people in a particular location. You need to deal with meals. You need to deal with practice."
The game of basketball in particular presents difficulties when compared to other sports. Golf or Nascar racing or even baseball involve much less direct contact than basketball, Desser added.
While the league would like to see a champion named by this summer, it's uncertain if that will be possible.
"I'd be surprised if it could be done by late June or July, frankly," Desser said. "That's certainly what they'd like to do, but of course they don't want to be in a position of endangering the player or other participant, endangering the fans certainly. So it's a difficult tussle."
The announcement of a further delay was another big disappointment for the league this season, which saw the deaths of former NBA great Kobe Bryant and former commissioner David Stern and a potentially costly feud with China sparked by a tweet from Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, in support of Hong Kong protesters.
"Commissioners are not just there to hand out the trophy at the end of the year," Desser said. "It's a core competency, really, to do crisis management. That's what Adam is doing today."
He noted that the commissioner's job requires a careful balance of multiple different stakeholders.
"The unique thing about a commissioner in sports is you're running a business, but you're also responsible to the players, responsible to the owners, responsible to the press and other forms of media, responsible to the arena owners, responsible to the fans, and responsible, or at least have to deal with, the government," he said.
"It's not an ordinary kind of CEO job. You have to be pretty good at dealing with controversies."
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but says that it doesn’t expect any disruptions to devices as the more than 30-year-old company is taken private under a restructuring process. iRobot said that it is being acquired by Picea through a court-supervised process. Picea is the company's primary contract manufacturer. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based anticipates completing the prepackaged chapter 11 process by February.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
Wealthfront’s CFO Alan Iberman talks the $2.05B IPO and the major moment for robo banking as the company bets on AI, automation, and “self-driving money."
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
