CBA emphasizes health in league resumption

Citing health for all as the top priority, the Chinese Basketball Association is adopting a vigilant COVID-19 prevention mechanism, including repeated testing, player isolation and strict access control, for its imminent season restart.

All players in the league's 20 teams are required to take nucleic acid tests three times before their respective first game in the calendar of the resumed 2019-20 regular season, which has been suspended due to the pandemic since late January. They will continue to be tested once every 10 days throughout the remainder of the season, which will start in two host cities – Qingdao in Shandong province and Dongguan in Guangdong province – on Saturday, according to league CEO Wang Dawei.

"Our priority is to guarantee the safety and health of everyone involved in the league restart," Wang told media during a video conference on Tuesday.

"The principle for all virus prevention measures is to create a safe environment where our players and staff could be isolated within a safe loop to have no contact with anyone else."

According to CBA's restart plan announced earlier this month, each of the two host cities, chosen for their exceptional sports venues, accommodation facilities and virus-control measures, will host 10 teams for phase one of the restart with games played behind closed doors and access only allowed to teams, essential operation personnel and a limited number of media staff.

Should anyone test negative upon their arrivals in their respective host cities, all 10 teams will have to stay in a designated hotel in isolation and can only travel between the hotel, sterilized competition arena and training facilities under closed-loop management, according to Wang.

All hotel staff, workers at competition and training venues and league operation personnel will be tested multiple times, and will be isolated at their respective accommodation facilities during the resumption.

After a 15-day phase one, the two groups will move together to a third, as yet undecided, host city for phase two to finish the regular season with cross-group games by late July.

The top 12 teams will qualify for a truncated postseason, with the first two playoff rounds contested as one-off games before the best-of-three semifinals and finals.

Should anyone test positive, the league will initiate emergency response plans supported by local governments and disease control authorities to deal with the situation.

With most of the league's ex-NBA players stuck overseas due to China's temporary entry ban on foreign nationals to curb the import of positive cases, only eight teams have called back a total number of 11 foreign players before the ban took place on March 28, while the other 12 teams have prepared to compete with all-Chinese rosters for the remainder of the season.

To make the competition fairer, the league has adjusted its import policy to limit teams to having one foreigner on the court against opponents who are fielding all-Chinese lineups. Otherwise, the original rule of two foreigners on court per game will be observed.

Videos showing fans cheering for their teams and soundtracks simulating crowd reactions will be played at the competition venues, where each teams' logos and mascots will be on display as well, to excite players on court in the empty arenas, according to the league.