Mike Bianchi: If NBA, MLS bubbles burst in Orlando, you can forget football season

ORLANDO, Fla. — We are counting on you, NBA.

We are counting on you, MLS.

We are counting on you to keep your fragile, delicate Disney bubbles from bursting.

We are counting on you to accomplish the nearly impossible task of showing that, yes, team sports can be safely played in the middle of a raging global pandemic.

It is appropriate that the grand experiment of these two leagues is being played out in Orlando beginning this week at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports because, after all, the wide world of sports is exactly what’s at stake. If it works, the wide world of sports in our country is up and running amid the coronavirus crisis. And if it doesn’t, you can forget about the NFL, college football and Major League Baseball.

That’s why every fan, athlete, commissioner, owner, team executive, athletic director and sports-gambling website curator will have their fingers crossed and their eyes fixated on Orlando during the next several weeks.

This undertaking is not going to be easy, that’s for sure, and it certainly not off to a resounding start — at least from an MLS perspective. The MLS is Back Tournament, which begins Wednesday night when Orlando City takes on its new expansion rival Inter Miami, has already removed one team from the field and postponed other games before the tournament has even begun.

FC Dallas was essentially told by league officials to go home because they showed up in Orlando with 11 players and staff members who tested positive for COVID 19. Another team, Nashville SC, showed up in Orlando with five players who tested positive and four others who may have the virus although their tests were inconclusive. Nashville’s opening game with Chicago was postponed, as was D.C. United’s game against Toronto FC, which just arrived in Orlando on Monday after a member of the travel party developed COVID-19 symptoms that required the entire team to be tested again.

Memo to MLS: Don’t blow this.

Don’t mess this up.

You are the first American men’s professional sports league to resume play, and if you fail, it will send an ominous message to everybody else.

Which is why some NBA executives right now are just shaking their head at the MLS bubble plan in which some teams didn’t arrive in Orlando until a day or two before the tournament actually begins. That’s insane.

We need to mention, however, that the league’s initial plan — arriving in Orlando a full two weeks before games were set to start — was shot down by the MLS Players Association. That plan would have allowed players who tested positive to quarantine and perhaps still play in the tournament. Now the league is scrambling to alter its schedule, remove teams, test players and keep the bubble decontaminated.

“If there is a situation at any time where I believe that the protocols aren’t working, and the health and safety of our players is at risk, then I will make the decision to shut down the tournament,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said.

Let’s hope that won’t be necessary, but the MLS bubble certainly should have been constructed more sturdily and steadily. It should have been more like the NBA, which has teams arriving this week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) — a full three weeks before the games commence.

This, of course, is ideal because disruptions and distractions are simply going to happen and some players are going to test positive. For instance, the Magic have one unnamed player who has tested positive the virus and another player, point guard Markelle Fultz, who has some personal issues he is addressing before entering the bubble. Jeff Weltman, the Magic’s president of basketball operations, says both players are expected to be back because the NBA has given teams ample time and resources to iron out at least most of their major issues.

“The NBA has left no stone unturned,” Weltman said. “It’s unbelievable the amount of caution and the layers of safety they have taken to make this work. To (enter the bubble) and start to do the testing weeks out builds up a level of confidence that everybody here is going to be safe.”

The NBA is reportedly spending more than $150 million to fund the three-month completion of the season at Disney. Commissioner Adam Silver has made it clear that no expense will be spared and no detail will be overlooked in his league’s plan.

Silver is a brilliant man and seems to have a sense how important it is for the NBA’s plan to work.

Not just for his league, but for every league.

“Let’s not underestimate how difficult this is,” said former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, now an analyst for Turner and NBA TV. “We’re trying to bring back sports in the middle of a pandemic when cases are rising. I know the level of planning the NBA puts into everything they do. This is no exception. The league has gone out of its way and is requiring great sacrifice from everybody involved to make this as safe as possible.”

Van Gundy then adds the kicker.

“If the NBA can’t pull this off, I don’t know how any other sport can play.”

We are counting on you, NBA.

We are counting on you, MLS.

Please don’t let us down.

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