“Nobody goes in, nobody goes out”, told franceinfo Evan Fournier, the basketball player, French Orlando Magic, who currently lives in the State regarded as the epicenter of the Covid-19 in the United States.The basketball player, frenchman Evan Fournier, in Atlanta, in the State of Georgia (Usa), February 26, 2020. (KEVIN C. COX / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA)
Despite the magnitude of the epidemic of coronavirus in the United States, the NBA (National basketball association) intends to go to the end of the season, whatever the cost, but with a protocol of the particular health.All the teams are locked in a “bubble” hermetic Orlando, Florida – a State considered to be the main focus of the Covid-19 in the country – and huge precautions are taken.
Outlet temperature and electronic bracelet
The delegations of the 22 teams are gathered in the Disneyland park. Each in its hotel, with its training ground. Everyone is tested before entering the bubble. And precautions continue every day, ” explains the French of Orlando Magic’s Evan Fournier. “We have tests every day in the early morning. As soon as one wakes up, one is supposed to take its temperature with a thermometer that is given to us, enter it in an application and it is kept in a database”, he says. “Every day, thus providing an electronic bracelet, and based on our results, when scanning our wristbands on entry, if all goes well, the color is green and if it does not, the color is red. It’s as simple as that,” describes the basketball player of 27 years.
We are in our bubble, and nobody goes in, nobody goes out.Evan Fournier, a French player of Orlando Magicà franceinfo
In the “bubble” of south american basketball, the mask is mandatory, and the distribution of hydroalcoholic gel regular. If elsewhere in Florida, the cases of the coronavirus explode, inside, the protocol is so strict that Evan Fournier is not concerned at all. “It is in Florida, without really being there. I think this is now the place most safe in the world.” According to him, “all measures are taken to ensure that there is no grouping, things are very well done.”
A “bubble” at $ 150 million
The terms and conditions of this end-of-season are exceptional, “never before seen” to George Eddy, the voice of the basketball in France on Canal+. This “bubble” has cost $ 150 million. And the issue is not that sporting. “If the players could not play, They would lose a billion dollars in salaries combined for this season and the next season would be in conditions that are probably still very complicated”, says George Eddy. “Everyone has an interest, financially, to go to the end of the season. The players, to recover their wages, the directors, the money of the contract tele… It is clear that it is sport business, it is an economic issue.”
The wish of all, is that there be a minimum amount of players affected and we can go until the end of the playoffs, a little like the good old days.George Eddy, commentator sportifà franceinfo
If all goes well, inside the bubble, the last match of the final will be played, at the latest, on the 13th of October next. Three months passed under bell for the finalists. The first game of the Orlando Magic will take place on the 31st of July, in the face of the Net Brooklyn.
In Florida, the NBA players end the season in a “bubble” of anti-coronavirus – Story of Louis Bergevin–‘—-‘–
